Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao today inaugurated Markook pumphouse, the last of the giant multi-stage Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project and released the water to the newly built Kondapochammasagar reservoir, located in Siddipet district, about 60 km from here.
Started four years ago at an estimated cost of over Rs 1 trillion, the project features 22 pumping stations with a combined capacity of 4,680 Mw along the 250 km-odd stretch starting at Medigadda in Karimnagar district besides a chain of reservoirs, making it to be the largest of its kind in the world.
The project is designed to lift as much as 180 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from River Godavari, which flows at an altitude of 100 meters MSL (mean seal level) to little over 600 MSL – the average altitude of the major geographical area of Telangana, for irrigation, drinking water and industrial use.
