HYDERABAD: Tummilla lift irrigation scheme, intended to provide irrigation water to 55,600 acres under Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS), was inaugurated in Jogulamba Gadwal district on Saturday. The project was conceived by the TRS government and portion of it was completed in a record ten months time. Though 15.9 tmc water was allocated from Tungabhadra river to the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district under RDS, Telangana did not get more than 5.5 tmc water in the last 15 years.
As against the total proposed ayacut of 87,500 acres, not more than 30,000 acres were irrigated in the last 15 years. Thus, the farmers in seven villages in Gadwal taluk and 67 villages in Alampur suffered a lot all these years. Around 64 per cent of the proposed ayacut under RDS in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar witnessed famine all these years.
But, today the 5.5 MW pump house became operational within less than 12 hours of the successful completion of the dry run. Commissioning of the lift was cheered by the farmers from the Jogulamba Gadwal district who thronged to the project area in a big way on Saturday and also performed traditional pooja.
It may be recalled that caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed the officials to prepare plans for using the Tungabhadra water as per the allocations of the Tribunal. Later, the officials conducted a survey and prepared a detailed project report (DPR) and issued a GO in 2017 for Tummilla with an estimated cost of Rs 397 crore. In the first phase of Tummilla, the officials will lift 5.44 tmc water for 70 days from RDS canal. So far, `125 crore worth works were completed under phase-1 as against the total works worth Rs 159.12 crore.
With the completion of phase-1 works, 56,500 acres would get water for the first time this year. Meanwhile, the land acquisition for the second phase was almost complete and the government was constructing reservoirs. “We are committed to completing the Tummilla project according to the deadline set for us,” T Khagender, chief engineer for Palamuru projects said. The farmers had a bitter experience with AP with regard to RDS. During the construction, AP closed seven out of ten sluice gates and opened three sluices in 1958 itself.
