Anantapur project setto get a new lease of life.

The Bhairavanithippa (BT) project on the Vedavathi River on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border had served its ayacut of 12,000 acres for nearly four decades, but in the past 15 years the flow had come down to a trickle.

Responding to the situation, the State government has begun efforts to stabilise the ayacut by taking up a lift project at a cost of ₹968. 89 cr. Krishna water lifted from Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) Canal at Jeedipalli will be pumped into the BT project. An additional 10,000 acres will get irrigation facility in Kalyandurg and Rayadurg constituencies of Anantapur district. It will also help in meeting drinking water requirements of several villages.

With Karnataka building several projects on the Hagari (Vedavathi), the situation in the ayacut under the BT project turned grim. Several landlords turned into farm labourers. I&PR Minister Kalava Srinivasulu, who represents Rayadurg in the Assembly, got the lift irrigation project based on Krishna waters from HNSS Canal sanctioned.

The project proposes pumping 3.70 tmcft from HNSS Canal at Jeedipalli through 14 lift schemes and fill 114 tanks with 1.7 tmcft in Kalyandurg constituency and 2 tmcft will be sent to the Bhairavanithippa project. For pumping water from the Jeedipalli reservoir, seven pumps would be used to send 13,464 cusecs through 28.7 km of canal to Garudapuram in Kalyandurg constituency and from there another canal will take the water to the BT project. Seven more pumps in Kalyandurg would be used for filling tanks from Garudapuram.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will conduct ‘bhumi puja’ at the BT project site at 11.20 a.m. on Wednesday to mark the beginning of work on the LI project. He will also unveil a pylon to mark the occasion.

Mr. Naidu will later fly to Garudapuram, where he will formally inaugurate work on excavation of a canal that will bring water from the Jeedipalli reservoir to Garudapuram.

THE HINDU