Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) was inaugurated in the presence of Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The inaugural ceremony was held at the project site in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district near the borders with Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
Built across Godavari river, KLIP will lift the water to a height of half-a-kilometer. It is designed to irrigate 45 lakh acres for two crops in a year, meet the drinking water requirement of 70 per cent of the state and also cater to the needs of the industry.
The ceremony was preceded by 'Japa Sankalpa yagnam' at Medigadda barrage in which Chandrashekhar Rao participated along with his wife Shobha Rao. The couple performed various rituals under the guidance of Sringeri Peetham seers.
Later, the Vedic pundits bless the Governor and the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
KCR, as Chandrashekhar Rao is popularly known, took the guests around a photo exhibition and explained them the key features of the project.
The foundation stone for the Rs 80,500 crore project was laid in 2016 and claimed to be the world's biggest project of its kind, completed in the shortest time.
The government is planning to lift two thousand million cubic (TMC) feet of Godavari water per day from Medigadda barrage. The project will start from July.
Claimed to be an engineering marvel, the project comprises 1,832 km water supply route, 1,531 km gravity canal, 203 km tunnel routes, 20 lifts, 19 pump houses and 19 reservoirs with a storage capacity of 141 TMCs.
It requires nearly 4,992 MW of electricity to pump 2 TMC of water every day in the first phase. The requirement will go up to 7,152 MW for lifting 3 TMC from next year.
( With inputs from IANS )