The release of water into the Ranganayaka Sagar reservoir with waters of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme has turned out to be yet another milestone in the Telangana irrigation sector and one more feather in the cap of state finance minister T Harish Rao.
Though he was stripped of major irrigation portfolio and a cabinet berth for over a year after the Telangana Rashra Samithi came to power for a second time in December 2018, Harish Rao focussed on completion of Ranganayaka Sagar reservoir that falls in Chandlapur village of Chinna Koduru mandal in his Siddipet constituency.
On Friday, the Godavari water was successfully released into the Ranganayak Sagar Reservoir with 3 TMC capacity in the presence of Harish Rao and also his brother-in-law and IT minister K T Rama Rao.
In a simple ceremony maintaining social distancing norms, Minister for Information Technology KT Rama Rao and Finance Minister T Harish Rao formally switched on one of the four pumps releasing water into the reservoir, which once filled will be able to irrigate 1,14,000 acres of land in both Siddipet and Rajana Sircilla districts.
The Ministers first offered prayers at the Ranganayak Swamy Temple before leaving for the pump house.
With the pumping of water into Ranganayak sagar the irrigation department has achieved a rare feat of bringing Godavari water from Medigadda barrage located in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district to Siddipet which is 198.18 kilometers away.
The water travelled through Annaram, Sundilla, Medaram, Anantagiri barrages to reach Ranganayak Sagar passing through both tunnel and open canals.
The irrigation and the Electricity Departments have readied all the four pumps each one having a capacity of 135 MW can lift 0.25 tmcft water in 24 hours.
The Reservoir can be filled if all the four pumps are operated simultaneously for three days without a break. The pumps lift water to a height of 122 meters.
