Testing The Waters: 5 Things to Know about Telangana's Controversial Kaleshwaram Project | EXPLAINED

YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president YS Sharmila took her fight against the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project in the southern state to Delhi on Tuesday. She called it “India’s biggest irrigation scam” that plundered Rs 1.2 lakh crore.

Sharmila was detained by Delhi police for marching towards Parliament from Jantar Mantar along with other protesters. The group had planned an agitation against Telangana’s KCR government over the alleged scam.

Here are five things to know about the Kaleshwaram project:

1. Built on the Godavari river at Kaleshwaram village in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, it is said to be the largest multi-stage lift irrigation project in the world. It covers a distance of 500 km across 13 districts in Telangana. The aim is to produce 240 TMC of water for irrigation, drinking and industrial uses.

2. The project has 20 reservoirs and seven links. Each link conveys the water from a source to a storage system and/or distributory network system to irrigate the ayacut. It is being built at a cost of Rs 80,000 crore.

3. The project, which was inaugurated in 2019, is an offshoot of Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sravanthi project launched in 2005 by the then chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, father of YS Sharmila. After the bifurcation of the state in 2014, it became impossible to stick to the original design. Also, Maharashtra objected to the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) near Tummidi Hetti across river Pranahita because of large areas getting submerged in their state. Telangana and Maharashtra reached an agreement regarding this in 2016. Keeping these changes and suggestions of CWC in mind, the original project was redesigned and divided into Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita project and Kaleshwaram project. The former is in Adilabad district while the latter is in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.

4. Since it’s a lift irrigation project, its pumps are its most important features. In this kind of irrigation, the water is not transported by natural gravity, but has to be lifted through pumps. Kaleshwaram project is said to have the world’s largest underground pumping station, situated at 470 feet below earth’s surface. The station has seven ‘Bahubali’ motors that can pump 2,376 metric tonnes of water.

5. The redesigning had met stiff opposition from rival political parties. They alleged that the redesigning ended up burdening the government exchequer with an additional Rs 1,253 crore. They said that the government’s intention was to loot public money.

During her dharna at Jantar Mantar, Sharmila alleged that though the TRS government promised to give water to 18 lakh acres, it did not give water to even 1.5 lakh acres. She alleged that huge motors were being brought in though there was no need for lifts. Earlier this year, BSP Telangana chief RS Praveen Kumar had alleged that the project was redesigned only to secure commissions from contractors.

Responding to YS Sharmila’s allegations, the TRS has maintained that the Kaleshwaram project is being built with the help of the same contractors that her father engaged in the Pranahita Chevella project. The pink party has also alleged that YS Sharmila is the B-team of the BJP.

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