Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Highlights
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.
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.
A history of the project
The Times of India, Sep 17 2015/ Syed Akbar/ How Andhra CM linked rivers, delinked netas
+
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.
Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme
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.
Events after the launch
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.
