Sai Baba's water projects- blessings to humanity

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Saibaba promised aid to bring Godavari water to Anantapur'

By Our Staff Reporter

KURNOOL, NOV. 17. The Minister for Lift Irrigation, M. Mareppa, has said that

Sri Satya Saibaba had promised to donate Rs. 325 crores for diversion of

Godavari water to the perennially drought-hit Anantapur district. Talking to

reporters here on Wednesday, Mr. Mareppa said a group from Anantapur district,

led by the Water Canal Project Society, surveyed the course of the canal, which

originates at Bololi in Maharastra and passes through 550 km in Nizamabad,

Medak, Ranga Reddy, Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts before entering

Anantapur. According to the Minister, the 325-crore project would be completed

in a year if GI metal angular soft shutter technology was adopted. All 24 major

tanks and five mini-reservoirs and small tanks could be filled with Godavari

water through old streams. Mr. Mareppa said the project was in a nascent stage

and not many technical details were available

Chennai benefits from Sai Baba's initiative

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 30. In January 2002, the Sathya Sai Baba announced that he would

launch a project to solve Chennai's water shortage, promising to make available

Rs. 200 crores for the project. The spadework to improve the Kandaleru-Poondi

Canal carrying Krishna water to Chennai began soon after. A few months later,

the Andhra Pradesh Government gave permission to Sai Baba for carrying out the

work independent of any Government involvement except for "supervision here and

there." Larsen & Toubro carried out the project, which began in October 2002 and

was completed by the end of 2003. On November 27, when Krishna water reached

Tamil Nadu within four days from the date of release (November 23), the

benefits of the project became clearly apparent. Chennai was reaping the

benefits of the improvement work carried out at Sai Baba's initiative - and not

surprisingly, the waterway is called the Sathya Sai Ganga canal. The realisation

today at the Zero Point was about 480 cubic feet per second (cusecs), the

highest since the commissioning of the Krishna Water Supply Project in 1996

with the rate of realisation rising substantially. A senior official of the

Tamil Nadu Public Works Department points out that on three occasions — October

2000, January 2001 and October 2002 — the Andhra Pradesh authorities, on a trial

basis, released 1,100 cusecs from Kandaleru dam, the terminal storage point in

the neighbouring State which feeds the supply to Chennai. Not even 40 per cent

of the water released reached the border with Tamil Nadu, lying at the 152-km

point of the Kandaleru-Poondi Canal. The receipt was about 440 cusecs. "This

time, the discharge from Kandaleru is 1,000 cusecs and are getting 483 cusecs,"

the official said, adding that the Sathya Sai Baba's initiative had made a big

difference. "Thanks to Sai Baba, the canal has been lined for a length of 65

km. Other improvements have also been carried out. Today, they have shown

wonderful results," says C.H. Vijaya Kumar Reddy, Andhra Pradesh's chief

engineer in charge of the Krishna Water Supply Project. K. Kondal Rao,

engineer-expert attached to the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, nodal agency for

the project, said that bund strengthening works were done at Kandaleru to

increase the storage. Further, "escape structures" were constructed at three

places along the canal to ensure the discharge of excess water from the canal.

"All these works have ensured quicker realisation and more flow of Krishna

water to Chennai. Earlier, it took more than 10 days for the water to reach

Tamil Nadu. This time, it was just four days."

Water released from Kandaleru to Chennai

Nellore, Nov 23 - Water was released from Kanadelu reservoir to Chennai on

Tuesday after a brief puja ceremony at the head regulator by the Telugu Ganga

Chief Engineer Vijayakumar Reddy. According to information, directions were

given by higher officials to release the water on Tuesday to coincide with the

birthday of Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi who was instrumental in sanctioning

Rs 200 crore for the lining works of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal, now known as

Sai Ganga canal which carries water to Chennai. Though the initial release was

200 cusec there are possibilities to increase the quantity, the SE said, and

noted that it would take three days for the water to reach Poondi reservoir,

near Chennai. Pointing to the water reserves of 8.965 tmc in Kandaleru

balancing reservoir and dead storage limit of 4 tmc, the SE indicated the

feasibility to supply upto 5 tmc to Chennai. TGP SE Rajagopal Reddy was also

present among other senior officials of the project.

 

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