Latest revision as of 08:31, 22 June 2018

Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, A backgrounder; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 17, 2015

The Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme

[edit] Highlights

[edit] The basic facts

10 Must Know Facts about Pattiseema Project, India’s Fastest built Mega Irrigation Project. India / Jitendra Jitendra, South Report.com August 14, 2015

Andhra Pradesh State government has taken up the integration of two major rivers Godavari and Krishna and is finishing the project in a record time.

Integration of Rivers is a major dream of the Country since its days of independence. Agricultural Scientists, Irrigation Engineers and our Visionary Prime Ministers have given River Integration as a solution to make Indian Agriculture Flourish.

River Integration is a Nation’s Dream.

Andhra Pradesh is making Nation’s dream true by integration 2 major rivers Godavari and Krishna.

Here are things to know about Pattiseema Project ( Integration of River Krishna and Godavari) :

1. The project started with a mission to make Rayalaseema Drought Free.

Rayalaseema has scarcity of water and rainfall and is one of the most heavily drought hit places of South India.

On the other hand, Godavari river is the most flooded river in the South India.

There is Surplus and Deficit. This project from AP state government is a solution for making Rayalaseema Drought free.

2. Why waste Precious water into the Ocean.?!

Every year, an estimated amount of 3000 TMC of water is flooded into Bay of Bengal from river Godavari.

Utilizing a minute amount of this wastage will make Rayalaseema drought free.

But how do we take the water from Godavari to Rayalaseema which are separated by 500 KMs.?

3. Polavaram Right canal that played the role.

Polavaram project which is under construction on River Godavari in Andhra Pradesh state aims to give water to River Krishna at Vijayawada and to Vishakapatnam City and the lands enroute to it through its left and right canals.

Due to the huge budget of the Polavaram Project and dependency on the central government, it is estimated to take another 5-7 years to complete.

The right canal that connects Polavaram project with Krishna River at Vijayawada was 70-80% complete.

4. The Solution was so cool.

Using the right canal which is close to ready, CM Chandrababu Naidu and his team proposed a project to give water to Rayalaseema instead of waiting for 7 more years in drought.

Not to affect the Godavari Districts, an additional 1 meter of buffer was imposed on the water level of River Godavari.

15 Meters and above is considered flooding water at Pattiseema, which would be lifted through powerful motors.

5. Lift Irrigation Project would Pump Water into the Right Canal.

The Pattiseema lift irrigation project would lift the surplus flooding water from river godavari into the Right Canal.

Under the Bachawat tribunal and inter-state agreement between Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, 80 tmc of water can be diverted from River Godavari to River Krishna. Pattiseema project will bring the 80 TMC water to River Krishna.

6. 80 TMC of Godavari water will reach Krishna River at Vijayawada.

Integration of Rivers is a major dream of the Country since its days of independence. Agricultural Scientists, Irrigation Engineers and our Visionary Prime Ministers have given River Integration as a solution to make Indian Agriculture Flourish.

The water from Pattiseema project will travel apprx 160 Km and will join River Krishna at Vijayawada in the up waters of prakasam barrage.

7. Water came to Vijayawada.?! Aren’t we talking about water to Rayalaseema.?

Every year, a shared amount of water is released from Srisailam Dam to reach Prakasam Barrage for the needs of Krishna Delta.

Now that Godavari water is reaching Krishna Delta, we wouldn’t need the water to be released from Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar for Krishna Delta.

8. When you can’t take water Upstream, these crazy ideas do come up.

River Krishna flows through the border of Rayalaseema region at Srisailam.

Every year, water allocated to Andhra Pradesh on river Krishna are shared through out the catchment area.

Water from Srisailam will be released further down to Nagarjuna Sagar project and then further down to Prakasam Barrage to serve the needs of Krishna Delta.

Now that, water from Godavari is filling up Krishna River at Prakasam barrage we wouldn’t need the water from Srisailam Dam which is the upstream of River Krishna.

9. Saved water in River Krishna is distributed to the Rayalaseema.

Saved water in River Krishna is distributed to the Rayalaseema through Pothireddypadu head regulator for its Irrigational and Domestic needs making it a drought free region.

10. The Mega Project which broke the Records.

Why this project?

The government had come up with the idea of building a lift irrigation scheme at Pattiseema village in Polavaram Mandal in West Godavari district in January 2015 to quickly get Godavari water to meet the irrigation needs of Krishna delta, which was started facing increased water shortage in recent times, as the main project was expected to take a longer time.

The water was meant to stabilise 12 lakh acres of existing ayacut besides meeting the second crop requirements of Krishna delta. One tmc of water is adequate to irrigate 10,000 acres of area, according to irrigation engineers.

Prakasam Barrage, which feeds the Krishna delta( Krishna district-6.79 lakh acres, Guntur district 4.99 lakh acres, West Godavari 0.58 lakh acres and Prakasam 0,72 lakh acres) has about 130 tmc of water allocation but was not receiving its share owing to upstream projects as well as the overall water shortfall in Krishna basin.

Godavari-Krishna linkage will benefit the Krishna delta in terms of timely availability and adequate quantities of water even for raising the second crop, officials say.

Cost and funding The project cost is estimated at rs 1300 Crores.

The main Polavarm project was declared as a national project under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and was being funded by Government of India. Issued administrative approvals with an estimated cost of Rs 4,474 crore in the year 2004, the project cost was raised to little over Rs 16,000 crore by 2010-11 while the head works and main dam were still in the initial stage of progress.

[edit] The main targets and achievements

Andhra govt set to inaugurate country's first lift irrigation project / First pump of this Rs 1,300-cr project was installed and switched on in Sept 2015 / B Dasarath Reddy | Hyderabad |Business Standard March 24, 2016

Benefits : It provides Irrigation water to 7 Lakh Acres which provides Crores of additional agricultural produce to farmers from Krishna- Godavari regions and the Rayalaseema region.

How the benefits are being delivered:

The project was designed to lift 80 tmc (trillion metric cubic feet) of flood water in a span of 110 days during the flooding season between July and October from Godavari as was permitted by the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal (GWDT) from the ongoing Polavaram Multi-purpose Irrigation Project.

From this project, water is pumped up to a nearby point and discharged into Polavaram Right Main Canal, which carry water by gravity to a tributary of River Krishna about 170 km away in the neighboring Krishna district above the Prakasham barrage.

The project contains 24 motors and 24 pumps of 6,300 HP and 5,300 HP respectively with a combined capacity to discharge 8,500 cusecs of water.The project requires 113 mw of power to run all the 24 pumps as each motor require 4.7 mw of power to lift the water.

According to MEIL chief general manager Rangarajan, the pumps will consume about 235 million units(mu) of power to lift 80 tmc of water, and that translates into about Rs 131.6 crore in electricity bill as per the tariff of Rs 5.60 per unit proposed for the lift irrigation projects by AP Discons for the year 2016-17.

Monitoring

Through Whatsapp: Government and the MEIL construction company used Whatsapp groups to track the progress of the project and for faster communications. Engineers would send pictures of the work from time to time for review.

CC cameras were installed with a LIVE link to Secretariat to track the progress of the work.

This is the fastest River integration mega project ever took up in India.

Foundation stone for the project was laid on March 29th 2015 and the Inauguration of Phase -I is on August 15th. Project will be complete in 6 months.

It is South India’s first River Integration Project.

The progress of the project

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, the mastermind behind the project and its fastest execution is dedication the River Intergration Project of Godavari-Krishna Rivers on Independence Day, August 15th, 2015. The Irrigation minister of the state, Devineni Uma Maheshwara Rao, his department and the Workers and Engineers who worked day and night to finish the Project need a special appreciation for sure.

The water pumped into canal from River Godavari would take 7 – 8 days to reach Prakasam Barrage after travelling by Gravity for about 160 Kms.

The first pump of this Rs 1,300-crore project was installed and switched on in September, 2015, about six months after the project contract was awarded to Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) on condition to complete the entire project in one year.

The company claimed that it has completed the entire project by March 20, 2016. As per the terms of contract, the MEIL is expected to receive an incentive of Rs 268 crore for the timely completion from the government.

[edit] Results

The Times of India, Sep 17 2015

Hope flows as Godavari meets Krishna

Major relief for dry Rayalaseema, farmers to benefit

With the launch of the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme in Andhra Pradesh, the Godavari was formally connected with the Krishna, and the country took a large step towards its ambitious but long-pending goal to interlink major rivers to eventually form a national water grid.

At the national level, the river interlinking project will benefit millions of farmers in north India and down the Vindhyas. The Centre has proposed to create 3,000 storage tanks. A whopping 174 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water will be distributed through canals that run for 14,900 km across the county.

The Centre has also appointed a high-powered task force on the interlinking of the rivers, which once completed will bring an additional 35 million hectares under irrigation. The task force has been given a deadline of 2016 to submit its report.

[edit] A history of the project

The Times of India, Sep 17 2015/ Syed Akbar/ How Andhra CM linked rivers, delinked netas

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The Times of India, Sep 17 2015

History: and disputed claims

The national river interlink project was first conceived about two centuries ago by British engineer Sir Arthur Cotton, who designed the anicuts across the Godavari at Dhowlaiswaram and the Krishna in Vijayawada.The idea was revived by eminent engineer-politician Dr KL Rao about five decades ago.The Polavaram-Vijayawada link was proposed by Dr Rao.Later, TDP founder-president and former chief minister NT Rama Rao and former chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy too played a key role on the Andhra project.

The 174-km Pattiseema project is not part of the original nationwide inter-state river-linking scheme -the first instance of the national project is the Ken-Betwa connection which will be launched in December 2015. However, its significance lies in the fact that it addresses water scarcity in Rayalaseema region and is the first major intra-state river-linking plan.

The Pattiseema project lifts flood water from the Godavari and pumps it into the Polavaram right canal that empties into the river Krishna in Vijayawada. The interlinking of Godavari-Krishna has been on the anvil for almost five decades. Thousands of farmers in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur and Chittoor districts will gain from the Godavari-Krishna linkage. About 17 lakh acres including 13 lakh acres in the Krishna delta will get assured irrigation water for two crops round the year. Thousands of villages en route will get drinking water supplies.

The next in the pipeline under the national project is the interlinking of Ken (Madhya Pradesh) and Betwa (Uttar Pradesh) rivers. Though Ken-Betwa was touted to be the first river interlink project, under the revised national scheme, AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu hurried through the scheme and completed it in record eight months.

The Pattiseema project will bring huge dividends to water-starved farmers of the Krishna Delta, reason both the TDP and YSR Congress have been vying with each other to claim credit for it.

TDP claims it completed the 174-km-long project that'll fetch flood water from Godavari to Krishna, YSR Congress alleges Naidu's government squandered public money and simply changed the project's name. It argues that most of the work on the Pattiseema (Polavaram) canal was completed during late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure.

To claim sole credit, the TDP government removed the name `Indira' from Polavaram Indira Sagar.It had to convince Godavari delta farmers that diversion of 80 tmc ft of water to the Krishna delta, India's rice bowl, won't impact their irrigation interests. CM Chandrababu Naidu scored a political point when he said the 80 tmc ft water thus `saved' from the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams on the Krishna could be diverted to Rayalaseema's parched districts.

Contrary to TDP's claim, Godavari and the Krishna have been `in terlinked' earlier. Andhra Pradesh, in fact, is south India's only state with all major rivers, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Tungabhadra, interlinked. Two of the three major linkages were carried out by the British. Almost 160 years ago Krishna was connected to Godavari albeit for navigation. Today's Pattiseema scheme is a pure irrigation one.The Eluru canals from Godavari and Krishna meet at Malkapuram village to form part of the Kakinada-Pondicherry Buckingham canal. The two Eluru canals also meet the Tammileru rivulet that drains into the Kolleru lake.

More recently the Telugu Ganga Project that supplies drinking water to Chennai, connected Krishna with Pennar and with Kandaleru before reaching Chennai. Then, over 130 years ago river Tungabhadra was joined to Pennar via the Kurnool-Cuddapah (KC) canal.

The Pattiseema, however, is the first intra-state project that's seen completion under the revised national river linking project. The mega project meets Krishna delta's irrigation needs and brings large volumes of Godavari's waters into river Krishna, upstream of Vijayawada's Prakasam Barrage.

[edit] Sets record for completion in 365 days

V RISHI KUMAR | Pattiseema project makes it to Limca Book of Records | MARCH 27 2017 | The Hindu BusinessLine

Megha Engg completes river linking project in record time

The ambitious project of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Patttiseema Godavari-Krishna river linking project, has made it to the Limca Book of Records for completion of the project in record time.

The Pattiseema (Pattisam) Lift Scheme, that links Godavari and Krishna rivers in Andhra Pradesh, was developed by the Hyderabad-based construction and infrastructure company Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd within a year from March 30, 2015 to March 29, 2016.

This project has thereby become the first such irrigation project in the country to be completed in time without any budget enhancements. The first pump was commissioned in just 173 days on September 18, 2015.

The project has one of the largest pump houses in Asia with 24 pumping units spread across an area of 7,476 sq m.

The project has a combined capacity to discharge 240 cumecs (cubic meters per second) of water. These pumps deliver water drawn from the river Godavari in Pattiseema into the Polavaram Project Right Main Canal for the benefit of farmers in the Krishna river delta.

According to a statement from MEIL, the editorial team of the Limca Book of Records is considering a rearrangement of content and a restructuring of chapters in the Limca Book of Records to be published in 2017.

[edit] Events after the launch

See below

[edit] Negatives/ The flip side

[edit] 2015: Setback within hours of the inauguration

The Times of India Sep 21, 2015

Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme scheme receives a blow

VIJAYAWADA: The much-publicised linking of Godavari-Krishna rivers received a big jolt within hours after launching the motors to pump waters from Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (PLIS) when the aqueduct near Janampet village of Pedavegi mandal breached late on Saturday night.

The half-baked aqueduct was washed away in the water flow resulting in the entire water being reverse pumped to the Kolleru lake instead of Polavaram Right Main Canal. Stunned with the development, the engineers of water resources department switched off the pump to bring the water release to a halt. Curiously, water resources minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao switched on the motor only on Friday. Although CM Chandrababu Naidu himself wanted to release the waters on September 16 when AP government announced the completion of river linking in a record period of time, technical snags in the motor forced him to remain confined to performing puja.

The CM, however, directed the water resources minister to return to city only after releasing the water with the help of the lone motor to be installed at the project site at Pattisam village. Under pressure from the government, the engineers and contractor completed the work in a hurry and saw that the motor is switched on September 18.

To the utter shock of the engineers and ruling TDP leaders, the aqueduct constructed on Tammileru river stream near Janampet village witnessed breaches within hours after water began gushing into the canal from the lift irrigation scheme. After the efforts of the officials to arrest the breach failed, they finally switched off the motor to reduce the water flow. The aqueduct was constructed at a cost of Rs 15 crore. Interestingly, the engineers claimed that the aqueduct work was completed in a record time of 30 days as the entire concrete work, which started in July, was finished by August. We have been suspecting the danger as we were not allowed to work as per the rule book. The breach is the result of completing the work without giving proper time for curing," said an engineer of water resources department. He alleged that the senior officials, including the district collectors, warned us to complete the work ahead of the schedules without following due process of engineering only to score some brownie points with the CM.

Engineering officials said that the situation could have been more serious had other motors too been installed as per the plan. As per the original design, the contractor had to install 24 motors each to pump about 8,500 cusecs in all to take flood waters from Godavari to Krishna through Polavaram right main canal. With the Naidu government insisting to be the first to link the rivers as part of National River Linking Scheme, the officials raced ahead of time and rolled out the project with half or partially-dug canal work. The engineers could finish the digging of canal just for about 20 metres width against the original design of 80 metres width along 174 km long canal.

The engineers were also forced to construct make-shift aqueducts and under-tunnel bridges in order to reach the deadlines fixed the government. Upon information, West Godavari district collector Katamaneni Bhaskar and Dendulur legislator Chintamaneni Prabhakar visited the breach site late on Saturday night and reviewed the situation with the engineers. With flood waters gushing from upstream, the officials decided not to operate the pump so early.

[edit] 2017: CAG finds several shortcomings, esp. life of project is 3 years, not 20

CAG raps government on Pattiseema project |April 02, 2017 | The Hindu

‘Objectives could not be achieved’

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) picked holes in the much-touted Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS), which the government had been showcasing as the first inter-linking of two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna, in the country.

The CAG report on the economic sector for the year ended March 2016 was tabled in Assembly on Friday.

The CAG, in its report, observed that the relaxation of ceiling on the tender premium and award of work at higher premium without completion of the Polavaram Right Main Canal and its distributary system had resulted in avoidable additional burden of Rs. 199 crore.

The CAG also observed avoidable extra expenditure of Rs. 138.18 crore due to unwarranted change in the construction methodology.

Incorrect reimbursement of the Labour Welfare Cess, though not required under the agreement, led to undue benefit of Rs. 14.22 crore to the contractor in the Pattiseema LIS, the CAG said.

Due to lack of canal system of adequate carrying capacity, only 11 of the 24 pumps of the PLIS were operated during the flood in July - September 2016. Thus, due to improper planning, the targeted objectives could not be achieved despite completion of the scheme.

The CAG did not consider the government’s projections on annual benefits from the LIS. It did not consider revenue from industrial water supply as industrial users had not been identified.

The CAG also noted that the life of the project was taken as 20 years in the DPR and depreciation was allowed accordingly.

However, the project was contemplated to run only till the completion of the Polavaram project in 2019.

“Thus, the life of the PLIS would be only three years,” the CAG observed.

[edit] PLIS, costs and benefits, as seen by CAG, 2016-17

Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, costs and benefits, as seen by the CAG in 2016-17.
The above is Appendix-2.2 of ‘Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Economic Sector for the year ended March 2016 ‘
@@ Revised project cost as per the revised administrative approval. The project cost increased due to high tender premium, changes in scope of work and increase in the cost of lands.
## Cost of civil works: ₹ 265.52 crore; Cost of Pumping system: ₹ 342.48 crore; and Cost of raising mains: ₹ 777.41 crore.
Source:Information obtained from the Department and DPR of the project

See graphic, ' Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, costs and benefits, as seen by the CAG in 2016-17'

[edit] Positives

[edit] 100 TMC water lifted from Godavari to Krishna in 148 days

Koride Mahesh | Pattiseema Project sets another record |TNN | Nov 16, 2017 | IndiaTimes/ The Times of India

HYDERABAD: Pattiseema project has added another feather to its hat. Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. (MEIL), which set a record in the execution of the Pattiseema project, has set another record by diverting 100 TMC of water from River Godavari to River Krishna through a lift system in 148 days.

Pattiseema project is a prestigious project of the AP government that has linked both Krishna and Godavari. The project was taken up to divert 80 TMC of water from Godavari and Krishna in 110 days. In this year, the project has diverted 100 TMC of water in 148 days. This is an increase of 20% over the intended usage of the project.

Official sources said Pattiseema is the only project in India to divert 100 TMC of water in one season. In this year, 98% of the acreage under river Krishna has been brought under cultivation.

“Normally, in any lift irrigation project, the pumps and motors are put to use only for three months or less every year. In Pattiseema project, all the 24 motors have been functional for the last 4 months. The 24 motors, one lakh twenty thousand hours, 159 TMC of diverted water,” a senior official of AP Irrigation department said.

Interestingly, the project was completed before time by the project contractor MEIL and subsequently entered into the Limca Book of Records for diverting 100 TMC of water this year from River Godavari to Krishna Delta. The works began on March 30, 2015 and completed the works by March 20, 2016.

Officials said Pattiseema is the first project in India to be completed on time without any budgetary enhancements. In spite of many challenges and setbacks, the government planned diligently and employed a workforce of 2,000 to complete the project. The first pump was made functional in 173 days (on 18th September 2015) and water was released.

According to a release, the pump house which is spread across an area of 7476 sq. m. is the largest in Asia. The project pumps 240 cusecs of water through 24 pumps. After the completion of the project, the pumps have been operational for 1.2 lakh hours till now. This means that each pump has been operational for 5000 hours without any hurdles. The pumps were successful in diverting 4 TMC of water in 93 days in the first year (2015), 55.6 TMC of water in 137 days in 2016, and 148 TMC of water till now in 2017.

Irrigation officials said this year, the farmers of Krishna Delta received water to their farmlands in the beginning of July. This has never happened in the past.

These farmers sowed their paddy crops in the months of October and November every year due to water scarcity. They incurred heavy losses when their crops were inundated during the monsoons and other calamities. After the completion of the Pattisam project, the farmers have started receiving water on time. As a result, they are reaping the benefits of a good harvest without any obstacles. The officials from irrigation and water resources department are able to ascertain the actual reason behind such abundant harvests.