Water being pumped into Mallannasagar

17,000 acre reservoir realised with ‘forcible sacrifice’ by 14 villages and 4,500 families

For five days the pumps of Mallannasagar have been running round-the-clock pumping Godavari water from Tukkapur pump house to the 50 tmcft capacity reservoir. Though all the eight pump sets were tested from the wee hours of August 22, after Engineer- In- Chief of the Kaleswaram Project Hari Ram formally switched on the pumps, as on Friday six pumps are pumping water without a hitch. Officials are reported to have planned to fill the reservoir to maximum permissible limit of 10 tmcft. The Chief Minister will switch on the pumps once again to mark the formal inauguration. Mallannasagar — a dream of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao — was realised with the ‘forcible sacrifice’ of some 4,500 families from 14 villages in Toguta and Kondapaka mandals. The villages that are disappearing slowly in Godavari water include — Brahmana Banjerpally, Rampur, Vaddera Colony, Lakshmapur, Etigaddakishtapur, Tirumalagiri, Mogilicheruvu tanda, Vemulaghat, Turkabanjerpally, Pallepahad, Pallepahad tanda and Nagaram in Toguta mandal and Erravalli and Singaram in Kondapaka mandal.