Harish Urges Uttam to Use KLIS Pumps, Provide Irrigation to Farmers

Former irrigation minister and senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Monday

demanded that the irrigation department immediately utilise the pumps that

are part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS) and provide relief

to farmers facing severe challenges for irrigating their fields.

In a letter to irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Harish Rao said if

all the KLIS pumps were switched on, various reservoirs – including

Annapurna, Ranganayakasagar, Mallannasagar, Konda Pochammasagar, and

Nrusimha (Baswapur) reservoir – could be filled which in turn could

irrigate around 4 lakh acres of crop land.

Farmers were facing severe distress due to low rainfall caused by El Nino on

one side and the failure to fill the reservoirs in the projects on time on

the other, resulting in crop cultivation not progressing, Harish Rao said.

Floodwaters coming into the upstream reaches of these reservoirs can be

harnessed by using the various KLIS pumphouses, he said.

Around 22 tmc ft of water is available at the Mid Manair reservoir whose

full capacity is 27 tmc ft. Motors should be turned on from Mid Manair and

water pumping should be started, thereby filling the reservoirs that are an

integral part of the Kaleshwaram project, as well as all the tanks and check

dams within their respective areas.

⁠Similarly, if water was pumped from Mid Manai to the Lower Manair Dam,

farmers receiving irrigation water from the SRSP Stage II could benefit, he

added.