Andhra Pradesh inaugurates India’s first lift irrigation project

Andhra government which is known for its innovations and use of technologies in various sectors has also become the first Indian state to implement lift irrigation.

Points to note

• Pattiseema lift irrigation project is known as the first river linking project in India
• It connects river Godavari with Krishna and the first pump of the project is completed in 1 year
• The project was taken by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited
• They finished the first lift irrigation project worth of 1300 crores in 6 months
• The project was designed to 80 tmc of water in a span of 110 days during the flooding season of July-October from Godavari as permitted by Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal board
• The lift irrigation scheme was inaugurated at Pattiseema village to meet the demands of water scarce regions in Krishna before the completion of the main project
• By this project water is pumped up to a nearby point and discharged into Polavaram Right Main Canal which will join a tributary of Krishna which is 170 km long
• 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 7 mw of power to lift the water
• The water was meant to stabilise 12 lakh acres of existing ayacut besides meeting the second crop requirements of Krishna delta
• The project is expected to be completed by March, 2016 and MEIL will receive an incentive of 268 crores from the government

Points to note

• The main Polavaram project was declared as a national project under the AP Reorganization Act, 2014 and was being funded by Government of India
• The average cost of the project is 16000 crores in the year 2010-11

Points to know

• Andhra Pradesh CM– Chandrababu Naidu
• Capital– Godavari