Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project

Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIS) is the world's largest multi-stage lift irrigation project — a system that pumps Godavari river water 564 metres up the Telangana plateau through seven sequential pump stations to irrigate 18.25 lakh hectares of land previously dependent on rainfall. It was commissioned in 2019 as the flagship infrastructure project of the K. Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS government in Telangana.

The scale is unprecedented: 22 pump stations powered by 4,627 MW of installed pumping capacity, 13 reservoirs (including the iconic Mid-Manair Reservoir at 656 m elevation), 1,832 km of canals, and a tunnel network over 200 km long including the 81 km Tunnel-1 (the world's longest irrigation tunnel). Water is lifted from the Godavari at 92 m elevation in 7 stages: Medigadda Barrage (92 m) → Annaram Barrage → Sundilla Barrage → Kannepalli pump station → Yellampally → Mid-Manair → Sripada Yellampally → final delivery into Telangana's interior districts.

The Telangana government executed the project in partnership with Megha Engineering & Infrastructures (MEIL) as lead contractor, with L&T and Navayuga Engineering sharing major packages. Total cost: ₹81,911 crore — making it among the most expensive irrigation projects in world history.

The project has been politically contentious: hailed by Telangana state as the lifeline of agricultural transformation, but critiqued by environmental and economic policy experts for cost-benefit, energy intensity (the system consumes ~9,000 MW peak when all pumps run simultaneously), and ecological impact on the Godavari delta. Major engineering audits in 2023 (after Medigadda Barrage piers tilted) raised concerns about long-term structural integrity that are still being investigated.