Watch: Lifting A River, A Documentary on MEIL's Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project on Discovery

Telangana’s prestigious and multi-staged Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) has got very great applauds from all the sections and regions. This renowned project was documented by popular science & technology channel Discovery Channel by the title “Lifting A River”, will be telecast on 25th of June, at 8 PM. Filmed for nearly 3 years, ‘Lifting A River’ captures every phase of the Kaleshwaram Project MEGA-BUILD: from the mammoth scale of construction to the intimate precision of science & engineering. 

This documentary was done by made by award-winning documentary filmmaker Kondapalli Rajendra Srivathsa of Pulse Media. His films shed light on fascinating worlds spanning science & technology, art & culture, social messaging & human interest stories. He is from Hyderabad, a Telugu spoken person, living in Delhi for the past 30 years. He received many prestigious awards for his works. His films have been nominated for and received the Asian Television Award, Singapore (2010, 2012,), the Indian Telly Awards (2012, 2016), Indian Television Academy Award (2018). 

On the telecast of the “Lifting A River” documentary Rajendra said, “The Godavari flows through Telangana in southern India and remains the mainstay of communities in the region, who rely on it for irrigating their fields, drinking water and more. But for decades, due to both natural & manmade reasons, the river has failed to fulfil these ever-growing needs.  The film chronicles the awe-inspiring undertaking of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, spanning hundreds of kilometres across 13 districts of Telangana, going as deep into the earth; emerging back to the surface, lifting the full monsoonal weight of the mighty Godavari. This is a story of huge construction, gigantic machines and the wonders of technology. It is also a film about the triumph of the human spirit, perseverance in the face of towering challenges and the sheer determination of thousands of workers, engineers, dreamers and doers who made the Kaleshwaram Project come to life.”

Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project was Telangana Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao’s dream project, for which he made all efforts with his engineering and construction team a great success. This project is the Pride of Telangana people. Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) with its world best engineering system has been involved in the Kaleshwaram Project construction.

Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, a gigantic multi-staged project, is a unique very of its kind. This type of project was never built anywhere in the world. This project is unique because for this the path of Godavari was diverted. The speciality of the project is water is lifted to upper areas with gigantic pumping machines at multilevel stages, at 600 meters above sea level. 

The success of construction was mainly because of CM KCR’s initiative and self-interest in the service of the Telangana people. In the process of project construction, there was no land acquisition problem. Godavari water of such a large extent was stored into reservoirs and lifted with pumping and at the same time with available main drainage system connected to the already completed other reservoirs, canals and ponds for storage and supply. This resulted in a huge reduction in the cost of construction and did not become a big burden on the Telangana government.

Goli Santhosh Reddy, who coordinated along with Kondapalli Rajendra Srivathsa during the documenting this film said “I started my journey as a freelance cameraman for various Entertainment and News channels. Later, I got an opportunity to work for several documentaries for Al-Jazeera London, the State & the Central government organizations, NGOs and for programs related to Rajyasabha TV. Being in the field of media, corporate & Ad film making industry, as a Director of Photography I have had the privilege to work for some of the prestigious documentaries with the finest craftsmen like Mr Rajendra Kondapalli. Our association started with a film that we did for National Geographic Channel. Now it is an honour to be a part of the documentary made on the magnificent Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, again with Rajendra Kondapalli. It is an amazing feeling to have witnessed every step of the building of this Megaproject and I will cherish this exceptional milestone forever. It is a proud moment for all the Telugu people!”

In Kaleshwaram Project, MEIL constructed 15 gigantic pumping stations. In a very short time for all the units, MEIL installed a total of 104 international standard quality pumping machines. The project is so large that it has a total pumping capacity of 5159 MW, of which MEIL has set up 4439 MW pumping stations, which is not built anywhere in the world.

Under Package-8, at the Gayatri underground Pumping Station, 7 units were commissioned to pump 2 TMCs of water per day. The capacity of each unit is 139 MW, which is massive and not found anywhere else in the world. This plant has a pumping capacity of 973 MW.

In Medigadda Lakshmi pumping station 17 machines have been set up, at Annaram (Saraswati) 12, 14 at Sundilla Parvati and at Gayatri Underground Pumping Center 7 machines are installed. 4 in Annapurna, 4 in Ranganayakasagar and another 2 units in Akkaram and Markuklo pump house have been set up as part of the Kondapochamma package. Mallannasagar Reservoir, which is a part of the Kaleswaram project, has a storage capacity of 52 TMC. 18 machines installed pumping station-8.