Update: BHEL Commissions 1 More Unit of Telangana’s Kaleshwaram Project

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) said in a BSE filing that the it has commissioned one more pumping unit 5 of 116 megawatts (MW) in the Kaleshwaram multi-stage lift irrigation project on the Godavari river in Telangana.

Developed by Telangana government, this greenfield lift irrigation project is located in Peddapalli district of Telangana. According to the official statement, BHEL had earlier commissioned four units of the same project between April and May 2019.

BHEL said its scope in the project comprises complete electrical and mechanical (E&M) works including design, manufacture, supply and supervision of erection and commissioning of 7 sets of Vertical Pump-Motor sets along with associated auxiliaries.

There are total seven units of 116 MW each in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) as it is called is a showpiece project for Telangana and the country, also serving as a great example of interstate cooperation.

As reported earlier, largest such project in the world, the Kaleshwaram project promises to use the Godavari’s floodwaters to create multiple storage sites across Telangana, water that will be used to provide irrigation to 4.5 million acres of agricultural land, and drinking water to almost 70% of the state’s population. In doing so, the project effectively covers 20 of the 31 districts in Telangana.

Beyond the numbers, hopes are high that the KLIP project will give a major jump to Telangana’s economy, thanks to the massive impact on agriculture, where farmers will be able to grow two crops now, and allied activities like fishing etc.

In India, where there are grand plans for river-linking afoot, with the first of those involving the Ken-Betwa rivers on the verge of final approval. The Telangana experience with Kaleshwaram, if positive, might possibly give a reason to explore lift irrigation more closely, rather than the far bigger understood, and unrecognized risks with river linking, as activists against it claim.