At Kaleswaram, Telangana races with time to build a gigantic project

Hyderabad: The size of the underground work in Package 8 of the Kaleshwaram project, near Lakshmipur in Ramadugu mandal, Karimnagar district is mindboggling.

Massive 80- to 100-metre pits have been excavated to construct the pumphouse and surge pools to store incoming water underground. 

Gravity will propel the water through these underground passageways that are 10 to 12 metres in diameter, wide enough for two heavy-loaded trucks can pass each other safely.

The Kaleshwaram project, which is divided into seven links, will convey water through a system of canals, tunnels, lift systems and reservoirs, to serve the irrigation needs of 13 districts as well as drinking water to the state capital. 

Senior bureaucrats who visited the project and checked the underground works recently, said they felt like they were going around a big shopping mall with multiple floors. Experts are terming this project an engineering marvel.

According to Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Dr S.K. Joshi, 500 workers are working in three shifts in the underground pumphouse complex. Most of the work at this site is being carried out underground to draw water through tunnels from Medaram balancing reservoir and then lift it to pass to flood flow canal through a gravity canal.

Besides building 1,531 km of gravity canals, 203 km of underground tunnels will be dug for water flow, which is a unique factor. The storage capacity of all reservoirs put together is 139.41 thousand million cubic feet

Three barrages are being constructed - one across the Godavari river, below the confluence of the river Pranahita at Medigadda near Kaleshwaram, and the other two at Annaram and Sundilla between Medigadda and the Sripada Yellampally project.

Kaleshwaram and Pranahita are re-engineered versions of the Pranahita-Chevella project conceived by late Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.