The Sammakka Sagar project (named after a famous tribal deity) on the Godavari is ready to be dedicated to the nation. It is located near Tupakulagudem village in the newly formed Mulugu district, 21 km from Indravati confluence and 5 km from the Devadula Intake Structure. The construction of the Sammakka barrage, which has a length of 1,242 metre and 59 spillway gates, was begun in 2018 and completed in 2021. As it was a difficult to lay a concrete foundation on the river bed at the barrage site, engineers adopted suitable technologies and designs required for that particular foundation strata.
All the designs for the barrage components were supplied by the State-owned Central Designs Organisation which has supplied designs for all other gigantic lift irrigation projects in Telangana such as Kaleshwaram, Palamuru-Rangareddy etc. Sammakka Sagar stores about 7 TMCft water and an FRL (Full Reservoir Level) of 83 metres.
The purpose of this barrage is to create pondage to Devadula LIS which was conceived and grounded by the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh to irrigate 6 lakh acre in Warangal district and drinking water to villages en route with an allocation of 38 TMCft water. It was anticipated that water would be available for 170 days for pumping. The sill level of Devadula intake structure has been kept at 71 metres. If the Godavari level falls below 71 metres, pumping will not be possible. In reality, pumping is possible for only 90-100 days a year.
The biggest defect in the design of Devadula LIS was that a storage structure had been not proposed. Even while conceiving a small lift scheme on a local stream, it is mandatory to have sufficient storage for pumping. This aspect was astonishingly ignored by the political leaders at that time with regard to Devadula Project. Obviously, they didn’t want a storage structure across the Godavari in Telangana. They thought it would impact water availability at Arthur Cotton Barrage near Rajahmundry.
Shifting Kantanapalli barrage upstream
During the Telangana Movement, the Telangana Retired Engineers body consistently raised this technical defect on many forums and met political leaders in Telangana. They also prepared a feasibility report of the barrage at Kantanapalli village, 20 km downstream of the present Sammakka Barrage. At last, the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ventured to sanction a barrage at Kantanapalli along with many other projects and included it in the Jalayagnam. Here again, all the projects including Kantanapalli were surrounded by many issues related to interstate, reserved forest, wildlife sanctuaries, land acquisition, R&R, availability of funds etc.
Ultimately, all of them became pending projects till Telangana was formed. Kantanapalli barrage was to submerge 12 adivasi villages and 11,000 acres of adivasi Lands. There was a huge protest from adivasi organisations and the barrage works could not be grounded. After Telangana was formed, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao meticulously reviewed all the pending projects in the state in Godavari and Krishna basins. He decided that re-engineering of projects was essential and Kantanapalli project was one among them.
After an elaborate study with the help of Google Earth Software, Survey of India maps, LiDAR survey findings, KCR decided to shift the location of Kantanapalli barrage 20 km upstream to Tupakulagudem village avoiding submergence of adivasi villages and lands. Though storage capacity at Tupakulagudem has been reduced to 7 TMC from 16 TMC, it is abundantly sufficient to create pondage for Devadula project. The adivasi lands which were to be submerged are now part of command area of the project. Sammakka Sagar will be a boon for the erstwhile Warangal district and can supply water to the contemplated ayacut of 6 lakh acres under Devadula LIS.
Devadula intake can draw water for at least 200 days in a year due to pondage created by Sammakka Sagar. Devadula Stage 3 works will be completed shortly. Thereby, 25 TMC additional pumping capacity will be added to existing 12 TMC capacity. As the pumping days are increased to 200 days, it is estimated that Devadula LIS can lift 70 TMC every year from Godavari River. Soon after the formation of Telangana, CM KCR enhanced the water allocation to Devadula LIS from 38 TMC to 60 TMC which would be sufficient to meet the irrigation and drinking water needs contemplated under the project. Previously no irrigation was provided till Dharmasagar, the fourth and last reservoir, in the project. After re-engineering, Ramappa, Pakala, Laknavaram lakes are proposed to be linked with the Devadula project. Thereby, areas of Mulugu, Bhupalapally, Narsampet tribal and drought-prone areas of Warangal district are brought under project command area.
Two irrigation projects completed in record time
After Telangana was formed, many gigantic structures were constructed in two or three years. Kaleshwaram Project link-1 components having three barrages across Godavari, three pump houses, 13 km canal with carrying capacity of 33,000 cusecs, 10 m diameter twin tunnels, two underground pump houses, surge pools four 400 KV sub stations were completed in three years and link-2 components having three reservoirs Anantagiri(3.5 TMC), Ranganayaka Sagar(3 TMC), Kondapochamma Sagar(15 TMC), 5 pump houses, surge pools, underground tunnels were completed in just four years. Mallanna Sagar (50 TMC) is nearing completion this year. Tummilla LIS in Mahbubnagar district was completed in 10 months and Bhakta Ramadasu LIS in Khammam district was completed in 11 months. Previously, the construction of a project used to take 15 to 20 years in the country for various reasons. The main reason was lack of political will.
The completion period of some of the major projects in the country were Bhakra Nangal (Punjab)-15 years, Sardar Sarovar Project (Gujarat)-27 years, Indira Sagar Project (Madhya Pradesh)-21 years, Hirakud Project(Odisha)-10 years, Nagarjunasagar Project(AP)-12 years, Sriramsagar Project(AP)-14 years. Telangana erased this concept and established a new trend that a project means a business of three years. This was possible only with political will of the Telangana government combined with technical skills of engineers. Many more big structures are in the making in Telangana and getting ready to serve the nation in two or three years. Sridhar Rao Deshpande OSD to CM (Irrigation), TS.