The Varikapudisela Lift Irrigation Scheme located at Varikapudivagu (canal) has got the required clearances from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) with stipulated conditions.
The Varikapudisela Lift Irrigation Scheme is designed to lift 1.547 tmc ft of water from Varikapudivagu on the foreshore of the Nagarjunasagar Reservoir by constructing a pump house on its right bank near Gangalakunta in Veldurthy mandal of Palnadu district. This project is a decades-old dream of the people of Planadu.
Collector Siva Sankar Lotheti told The Hindu on June 20 (Tuesday) that the required clearances had been received.
The State government has accorded administrative approval for ₹340.26 crore to provide irrigation water to an ayacut of 24,900 acres in Veldurthy mandal. The work has been awarded to Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) for ₹298.5 crore, 4.7% excess of the IBM value. The total ayacut proposed under Phase-I of the project is 24,900 acres for agricultural crops in Veldurthy mandal. The villages covered in this are Veldurthy, Uppalapadu, Gottipalla, Sirigiripadu, Bodilaveedu, Gangalakunta and Loyapalli.
DPR for Phase-II work
The State government accorded administrative approval for ₹3.97 crore in 2022 to conduct the Survey Investigation and Design (SID) operations for the preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR for Phase- II work.
Tenders were invited and the work was awarded to M/s PSR Constructions for ₹3.49 crore in July 2022. The DPR is being prepared.
The ayacut proposed under Phase -II of Varikapudisela LI Scheme includes 15,7222 acres in Veldurti mandal, 36,440 acres in Durgi mandal, 6,641 acres in Macherla, 1,627 acres in Karempudi, 209 acres in Gurazala mandal, 33,556 acres in Bollapalli mandal in Palnadu district. Another 10,456 acres will be brought into cultivation in Pullalacheruvu mandal in Yerragondapalem Assembly constituency in Prakasam district.
In total, 1,29,554 acres— 24,900 in Phase-I and 1,04,654 acres in Phase-II— will get irrigation facilities after the project is completed.
