Why in the News?

A controversy over alleged engineering lapses in the ?1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project on the Godavari river triggered an electoral slugfest in poll-bound Telangana.

About Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP):

• Location: The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) is situated at Kaleshwaram village in Telangana, along the Godavari River.
• Confluence Point: It is located at the confluence of the Pranhita and Godavari Rivers.
• At this confluence, the Wardha, Painganga, and Wainganga rivers also meet, forming the seventh-largest drainage basin in the subcontinent.
• Originally called Pranahita-Chevella project in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it was redesigned, extended and renamed as Kaleshwaram project in Telangana in 2014.
• KLIP is known as the world's largest multi-stage and multi-purpose lift irrigation project.
• A significant feature of KLIP includes a series of underground and surface water pumping stations, claimed to be the world's largest of their kind.
• This lift irrigation system stretches over 300 kilometers and moves large volumes of water from rivers or reservoirs to be distributed through channels and additional reservoirs before reaching the next stations.
• Objective: The project's goal is to provide water to 45 lakh acres of land in Telangana for irrigation and drinking water.
• KLIP started in 2016 and will utilise approximately 283 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water from the Godavari River to serve 13 districts in Telangana.