The second pump of the Yellur pump-house of Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme in Nagarkurnool district was revived and commissioned on Thursday. The 30 MW capacity pump lifts and discharges 800 cusecs of water from the foreshores of Srisailam reservoir to meet drinking water and irrigation needs.
The pump-house with the total of five pumps of 30 MW capacity each to lift and supply 4,000 (5×800 cusecs) cusecs of water was submerged in water following a technical snag in the third motor on October 16 afternoon which led to its flooding rendering it out of order for more than a month. After de-watering that took about 20 days time, the first pump was revived and commissioned on November 21 as the areas depending on the source for drinking needs were suffering badly.
After the revival of the first pump, the engineers of the Irrigation Department have planned to revive the next three pumps with a gap of 10 days each. Accordingly, the second pump (pump number 4) has been commissioned and put back in service to lift and supply 800 cusecs of water to Yellur reservoir for its onward journey to meet drinking water and irrigation needs in Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Mahabubnagar and Rangareddy districts.
According to the officials, work on revival of pump numbers 2 and 5 was in progress and they were hopeful of restoring and commissioning them within 10 days gap each. The revival of pump number 3, which was damaged completely in the October 16 mishap, is likely to run into the summer season.
The engineers are hopeful that both the drinking water and irrigation needs would be met as per plan with two pumps now, supplying 1,600 cusecs, continuously. As two more pumps are expected to be put back in service soon, there would not be any problem in meeting irrigation for Yasangi crops and drinking water needs, project engineers said.