Bill to power Kaleshwaram LI project to cost government Rs 8,000 crore

HYDERABAD:

Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project

(KLIP), expected to irrigate 18.19 lakh acres in seven districts when all its components are completed, is expected to require electricity costing anywhere between '7,903 crore and '13,172 crore a year.
This translates into `43,449 to `72,416 per acre per year, an independent study sponsored by the

Telangana Joint Action Committee

found. The study by three independent experts Biksham Gujja, Shiv Kumar and

Raghu Kancharla

that electricity required for a single crop season would be 12,349 million units with 0 per cent distribution loss and 20,582 million units at 40per cent losses. Without any power losses along the way, the bill works out to about `7,903 crore and with 40per cent losses, it works out to Rs 13,172 crore per year. The study estimated power requirement for 13.69 lakh acres of the total proposed KLIP ayacut of 18.19 lakh acres. Compared to these projections, this year a total of 11,535 million units of electricity was proposed to be supplied for supplying power to around 20 lakh borewells in the state at a cost of `8,075 crore. In Telangana, electricity is supplied free or at a nominal cost to agricultural consumers.

The cost of supplying electricity to agricultural borewells is recovered by the electricity distribution companies in three ways tariffs, subsidies from the govern ment and cross subsidies contributed by other consumers who pay higher tariffs.

As per the study, after the completion of the project, the state exchequer is likely to be burdened with an annual outgo of more than `10,000 crore just as electricity expenditure. As per the existing formula, the state government never paid more than `3,000 crore as subsidy and it would be next to impossible for any state to take up such a huge expenditure every year.

“We have received a copy of the report by experts. The department formed a team of experts to study the report and it will provide answers to all issues raised by them. We know that they have considered all issues including power bills before taking up the project to irrigate 18.19 lakh acres across the state,“

Shailendra Kumar Joshi

, special chief secretary of irrigation department told TOI.