PNS|Hyderabad
The 158th meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Secretary Debashree Mukherjee and CWC Chairman Mukesh Kumar Sinha, recommended clearance of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the integrated Sithamma Sagar and SRLIP project.
The clearance is being hailed as a landmark for the state, particularly as this is the first integrated multipurpose project to be cleared after the state’s formation, which provides both irrigation facilities as well as hydropower.
Telangana officials Principal Secretary Rahul Bojja, ENC (G) G Anil Kumar, SE Kothagudem Srinivas Reddy, and DD(GB) S. Subramayam Prasad represented the state at the meeting. After detailed discussions, the committee unanimously recommended the project for final TAC approval.
The Rs 19,955-crore project aims to use 67.05 TMCs of water (equivalent to 1898.644 MCMs) to irrigate 7.87 lakh acres and provide drinking water through lift irrigation via 11 pump houses powered by 757 MW of electricity.
The scheme will benefit Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam, and Mahabubabad districts and also stabilise the existing command areas of NSP, Wyra, Paleru and other minor irrigation schemes by offsetting the 25 per cent deficit. The barrage has a length of 1332.75 metres and has 67 radial gates — 55 measuring 15×15 metres and 12 measuring 15×16 metres — to handle the discharge.
At Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 63-plus metres, the structure can store 36.57 TMCs of water.
The project also generates 282.80 MW of hydropower from eight units.
