A speed trial in a dry run was conducted of the fifth pump of the Laxmipur pump house of Kaleshwaram project, part of Package 8, on Friday by the work agency. The agency has decided to take up the trial run of the fourth pump from Saturday. The two pumps would be ready for wet run by Sunday.
The Package-8 pump house is key to the State government plans to supplement Kaleshwaram water to Sriramsagar Project ayacut, including under Kakatiya Canal, this year through Flood Flow Canal along with the pump house in Package-6, where the installation of motors is in progress.
According to the project officials one pump would be ready for trial run and installation of motor for another pump there by the month-end. Third pump would be ready for trial byAugust 15.
Ready to lift water
“The world’s biggest underground pumping station is fast getting ready for commissioning and the irrigation department is committed to keep required pumps ready to lift water whenever water is available for lifting from Yellampally,” B. Srinivas Reddy, director of the work agency of Package-8 Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), said. The agency has plans to commission five out of seven pumps of the pumping station ready for lifting water this season itself.
The trial run of fourth and fifth pumps of Package-8 is being monitored by engineers of the work agency under the supervision of Advisor to Government on Lift Irrigation Project K. Penta Reddy, Chief Engineer N. Venkateshwarlu, Superintending Engineer Venkata Ramulu, Executive Engineer N. Sridhar, Siemens India representatives Sandeep Gujarati, Umesh Thumgare and BHEL engineers Anil Kumar Pure (Bhopal), Saravanan(Bangalore) and Sumit Suchdev (Delhi).
Bottlenecks end
The bottleneck in one of the twin tunnels in Package-7, which links Package-6 and Package-8, is expected to be overcome very soon as less than 10 meters tunnel excavation is pending now, sources said. The excavation of one of the twin tunnels in Package-7 is hit by seepage mud-sliding due to loose soil there. The work is being supervised by a tunnel expert from Himachal Pradesh for about two months now.