Hyderabad: With the future of the Medigadda barrage, the key part of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), hanging in balance, the state government is moving fast to construct Tummidihetti barrage on Pranahita River in Adilabad district.

An official team led by Adityanath Das, Advisor (Irrigation), has begun exercise to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the Tummidihetti barrage which was abandoned by the previous BRS government.

The team is planning to hold an official meeting with the Maharashtra government to seek their support for Tummidihetti barrage from where water from Pranahita, a major tributary of the Godavari River, can be lifted through gravity, thereby reducing the burden of power supply cost drastically.

Top officials of the State Irrigation Department told The Hans India that the government already decided to utilise 165 TMC of water from Pranahita by constructing the barrage at Kautala mandal in the erstwhile Adilabad district.

In the past, the Maharashtra government raised concerns over the submergence of some villages in its territory if the barrage was to be constructed at the proposed 152-meter height.

However, Maharashtra was ready to accept the barrage height at 148 meters only at that time. But the Telangana government wanted to construct it at 150 meters for optimum utilisation of the water for irrigation needs in the old Adilabad district.

Following objections from the Maharashtra government and citing non-availability of sufficient water at Tummidihetti, the previous government shifted the location of the barrage to Medigadda.

But the present Congress government seems to be keen on the Tummidihetti barrage.

The official team led by Adityanath Das is preparing a report to be submitted to the Maharashtra government on the height of the barrage and Telangana government's readiness to pay compensation to the displaced families in the submergence areas.

The official team is also studying the feasibility of supplying water from Tummidihetti for irrigation in Suryapet district. All the aspects of creating new irrigation facilities are under study.

According to officials, the Tummidihatti barrage under Pranahita project will be a game changer in the stabilization of the existing ayacut and creation of new irrigation facilities in North and South Telangana districts.

The barrage will also help the government in reducing power bills, they added.