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String of barrages proposed by TS on Godavari river can become major revenue yielding project: expert T. Hanumantha Rao.

Looking beyond irrigation, an expert has come up with an innovative plan of turning the string of barrages proposed on Godavari river by Telangana Government into a major multipurpose revenue yielding project encompassing power generation, navigation and fisheries too.
T. Hanumantha Rao, former Engineer-in- Chief of State Irrigation department and UN Consultant told The Hindu that his “step ladder technology”, involves construction of 33 silt-free barrages on 750 km stretch from Bhadrachalam to Soan, a place close to Sri Ram Sagar Project, one below the other in such a manner that the stored water of the lower barrage touches the upstream one.
Under the plan, the barrages will be built each at distance of 15 km to 25 km, the former when the river bed fall is steep and the latter when it is flat, storing water within the flood zone of the river without submerging any village.  With one barrage already existing at Yellampalli and two under construction at Kantalapalli and Dummugudem, 30 more will have to be built.
The plan envisages storage of five thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) to 15 tmcft in each of the 30 new barrages. At an average of 10 tmcft storage per barrage 300 tmcft of Godavari water could be harnessed for cultivation of 30 lakh acres (50,000 acres on either side of each barrage).
A design innovation proposed by Mr. Rao is to see that the bottom of the radial gate starts from the river bed apron level and is kept open to allow free normal flows and wash down the silt. The water stored upstream in each barrage is released to down stream side without affecting the normal flow and riparian rights of the neighbouring State.
There will be no silt upstream of barrage as each vent will function as scouring sluice, he explained. The radial gates will never be fully closed barring maintenance or repair works. The span of barrage is planned to be more than the width of the river, another innovation, to avoid “afflux” and ensure that the velocity of the flow of water from upstream to downstream through barrage remains the same. This innovation of compensating for the space taken by the piers facilitates a vent way more than the river cross section area flow.
With each barrage being built to a height ranging from 10 metres to 20 metres depending on site conditions at an average of 10 metres, hydel power could be generated anywhere between 100 MW to 200 MW. It opens an opportunity for taking up the 30- barrage project on public- private- partnership mode, he said citing the example of mini hydel projects in Himachal Pradesh and other places in the North, that have come up on this model.
Mr. Rao’s project has two other components, opening of a navigation corridor through the 33 barrages facilitating transportation, for instance coal from Singareni Collieries and industrial goods at minimal costs and development of fisheries. Both yield revenue for the State. He has put the cost of building each barrage at Rs. 600 to Rs. 1000 crore but says much of this could be recovered through power generation and navigation.
The veteran engineer compares the navigation component to St Lawrence waterway between Canada and USA.