SIDDIPET: The long cherished dream of people of the district of getting Godavari water from Kaleshwaram project has come true on Friday with water reaching Siddipet, which no one had thought would be possible, given its geographic location.
But the waters did arrive, marking the beginning of a new phase in the lives of the people who do not have to worry about drinking water and irrigation facility for their crops, anymore.
The government has released Godavari waters into Ananthagiri project and from there the water would be released into Ranganayaksagar, which is four km away, within a week. Conceived to harness the floodwaters of the Godavari, the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project aims to make Telangana drought-free and irrigate one crore acres.
The Annapurna Reservoir (Ananthagiri) has been constructed on 2,800 acres of land with a capacity of 3.5 tmcft bordering Siddipet-Sircilla. Irrigation officials said that only one motor was used in pumping 2,800 cusecs of water into Annapurna project from Mid Manair. In the next couple of days, all the remaining three motors would be used to pump 11,000 cusecs of water into the project.
Godavari water would reach Kondapochamma reservoir through Mallanna Sagar canal from Ranganayaksagar.Officials have been making arrangements for Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to release Godavari water from Ranganayaksagar to Kondapochamma on Ugadi day.
Kondapochamma reservoir has the capacity of storing 15 tmcft water and from there Godavari water would be made available to Sangareddy, Medchal and Yadadri districts. Recently, when the Chief Minister visited Gajwel constituency, he announced that the farmers would have irrigation facility for kharif.
Ranganayaksagar has the capacity to store 3.5 tmcft of water and water for irrigation purpose would be provided to Siddipet and Sircilla districts. It is estimated that around 1.40 lakh acres would come under cultivation in Siddipet and Sircilla districts under Ranganayaksagar.