Pumps at Pattiseema work non-stop for record 148 days

 The Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (PLS) on the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh has set a record by pumping 100 tmc of water into the Krishna basin by working non-stop for 148 days, entering the Limca Book of Records.

The 24 pumps worked for a record 1,20,000 hours, consuming 25,36, 06,000 kilowatts of electricity.

The Andhra Pradesh government took up the project as an interim measure until Polavaram Project is completed.

Executive Engineer (PLI) J Subramanyeswara Rao said the project, for which the foundation was laid on March 13, 2015, started working by March 20, 2016.

While the project could pump only 4 tmc of water through one pump initially, it could deliver 55.6 tmc of Godavari water into the Krishna during 2016.

"During the three seasons, the project delivered 159 tmc of water to the delta which would have flown into the Bay of Bengal," Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said.

The minister led a team of legislators to the project site on the occasion of pumping of 100 tmc of water into the Polavaram Right Canal.

Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), which completed the project in a record time, says that 2,000 skilled and semi-skilled workers worked hard to complete the project in one year.

"With 24 pumps in an area of 7,476 square metres, Pattiseema is the biggest in its category in Asia," a MEIL release stated.

The state government says that Rs 24,000 crore worth crops have been saved by linking the Godavari with Krishna through Pattiseema scheme.