A Mission To Quench The Thirst Of Telangana

On 7th of August, The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi made his first official visit to the Telangana state. During the visit, he launched the Telangana state government's flagship water project mission Bhagiratha at the Gajwel district.

The mission of this mammoth project is to supply clean, drinkable water to all the rural households in Telangana. The Rs. 35000 crores worth project covers pipeline connections laid across one lakh 26 thousand Km stretch. The government initially has sanctioned Rs. 4,000 crores for the 2015-2016 financial year. The project was designed by Panchayat raj, Rural Development and the Rural Water Supply Department. As per the project design, every person in the rural village will be supplied with 100 litres of water. The individual from the urban areas will receive 150 litres of water supply. The project emphasises on addressing the drought and Fluorosis crisis in rural Telangana. The project covers 25,000 rural habitats along with 67 urban habitats.

The concept of Mission Bhagiratha

For now, the Telangana water grid is depending on the water resources available from the two perennial rivers flowing through the state; Krishna and the Godavari. The water grid plan is to utilise 34 TMC of Godavari water and 21.5 TMC of Krishna water. The project also includes channelling the water resources from Srisailam, Sriram Sagar project, Komuram Bheem Project, Jurala Dam, Paleru Reservoir and The Nizam Sagar project. The state level grid project is scientifically designed to use the natural gradient where ever possible and pump water to the 26 internal grids that supply the water through the pipelines. The project has the major trunk pipelines covering a distance of about 5000 Km. Another 50,000 Km will be used to fill the service tanks in the local habitats for the storage. Additional 75,000 Km pipeline network will supply the drinking water to the houses in the villages.

Mission Flouride

Telangana is a newly formed state with its share of the grinding issues. The drinking water is still a major problem for the rural populace in the state. The people, particularly in the rural areas were forced to consume the ground water which has high levels of fluoride. A recent survey revealed that majority districts in Telangana excluding Hyderabad have ground water that contains belong the permissible levels of fluoride presence. The Bhagiratha project will be a much-awaited splash of fresh water for the people of Telangana which pumps in clean water from the Krishna and Godavari river through the water grid project. The government has ensured that the project covers all the fluorosis affected areas ensuring proper water connections. Telangana was one of the states that had severe drought. The large scale water supply will solve the drought issues in all the major agriculture belts.

Smart Water Grid

The humungous Water Grid project will use a nation inspiring path-breaking technology. The survey of the project will be conducted by using the Advanced Light Detection and Ranging Technology. The hydraulic modelling software is used to determine the specifications of the pipelines.

The state government of Telangana is adopting the international standards to execute the mammoth project. By inducing the technology, the government wants to improve the coordination and focus on optimising the human resources. The government will follow the turn-key project, meaning the organisations who are executing the projects are responsible for the maintenance as well.

Once the project is completed, it is expected that over 140 villages will have a solution for the water scarcity. The mission Bhagiratha is a revolutionary project which will ensure the state of Telangana is Fluorosis and drought free state.

Atluri Sriman Narayana is an Indian dental surgeon,He founded the Sai Oral Health Foundation.He was honored again by the Government of india in 2002, with the fourth highest india civilian of padma shri.