Hyderabad: The Telangana govt has initiated efforts to revive the Pranahitha-Chevella project and construct a barrage at Thummidihatti village, located on the border with Maharashtra. The govt instructed irrigation officials to begin preparatory work and carry out the necessary tests required for the construction of the barrage.After the Congress came into power in Dec 2023, chief minister Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy announced that the govt would revive the old project and construct barrage at Thummidihatti, aimed at irrigating lakhs of acres in the erstwhile Adilabad district.“The state govt has begun the preparatory works, such as preparing documents and reports to take the project forward. Most of the clearances for the project were obtained two decades ago, though some may have to be obtained afresh,” irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy told TOI.According to official sources, irrigation advisor Adityanath Das has been entrusted with overseeing the project. Technically, the project has never been formally closed. The govt is now planning to consult the contractors of the project to determine whether they are still interested to complete the project at the revised rates.Sources said the govt intends to keep the full reservoir level (FRL) of Thummidihatti at 148 metres, a level which was previously agreed upon by the Maharashtra govt in 2015 and reaffirmed in 2016 during various levels of meetings. The previous Congress govt had already submitted detailed project report (DPR) to the Central Water Commission (CWC), which may now have to be revised, apart from the cost revision.Initially, the project was estimated to cost Rs 17,875 crore, but it was later revised to Rs 36,257 crore. Of this, the govt spent about Rs 6,156 crore till 2014 and another Rs 5,522 crore between 2014 and 2016, till the project was redesigned and named as Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme.“Even the Congress govt had conducted public hearings in submergence-prone villages in the united Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana), but could not hold hearings in Maharashtra, where about 3,780 acres of submergence was expected due to objections from the neighbouring state if the FRL is at 152 metres. However, if the FRL is fixed at 148 metres, submergence in Maharashtra would be reduced to 285 acres only. That Maharashtra govt had insisted on limiting FRL to 148 metres,” a senior irrigation official said.The Pranahitha-Chevella project was originally proposed by the Congress govt in 2005, with the barrage to begin at Thummudihatti. However, due to various issues, the project never took off. Later, the BRS govt redesigned it and implemented it as the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).Officials said the project DPR was prepared to divert 160 tmcft of water from Pranahitha river to Sripada Yellampally project, keeping water requirements in erstwhile Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Ranga Reddy districts, including drinking water and industrial water requirements in view.