Sammakka Sagar Barrage (or Thupakulagudem Barrage) is a barrage across

Godavari River The Godavari (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganges River, Ganga River and drains the third largest Drainage basin, basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. It ...

at Thupakulagudem Village,

Eturnagaram Eturnagaram is a village and a mandal in Mulugu district in the state of Telangana in India. Dolmen There is a megalithic dolmen graves site near Eturnagaram in Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary. . Wildlife sanctuary The mandal area is surr ...

Mandal,

Mulugu District Sammakka Saralamma Mulugu district is a district located in the eastern region of the Indian state of Telangana. Its headquarters is the town of Mulugu. Mulugu district is the least populated district with 294,671 in the state. Mulugu district ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

State. It stabilizes the existing irrigated area of 2,51,310

Hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

under J. Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme and 3,04,000 hectares of

Sriram Sagar Project The Sriram Sagar Project is also known as the Pochampadu Project is an Indian flood-flow project on the Godavari. The Project is located in Nizamabad district, 3 km away from National Highway 44. It has been described by The Hindu as a "lif ...

stages I & II with 50 TMC of water. Another 50 TMC will be used for providing drinking water to villages en route. Sammakka Sagar Hydro Electric Project has been planned for generation of 240MW (10 units of 24MW) through run-of-the-river generation. This hydro electric project is expected to be completed by

Telangana Power Generation Corporation Telangana Power Generation Corporation Limited is a division of Telangana State Electricity Board. It is responsible for power generation in the state of Telangana. It has ceased to do power trading and has retained with powers of controlling ...

(TGGENCO).

History

This barrage was earlier referred to as ''Kanthanapally Barrage'' and it was proposed at 17 km downstream of the existing J. Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation pump house with ''Full Reservoir Level (FRL)'' at +85.0 meters. The barrage would've been constructed at narrow gorge on Godavari river at Kanthanapally village () but this would've led to submergence of about 4 villages fully and 11 villages partially. Potential land acquisition hurdles were also expected, as this would require acquisition of 7789.42 hectares of land. This barrage was earlier part of ''P V Narasimha Rao Kanthanapally Sujala Sravathi Project (PVNRKSSP)''. In 2016, in order to avoid issues related to submergence and land acquisition,

Government of Telangana The Government of Telangana also known as Telangana Government, is the governing authority of the state of Telangana in India. It consists of an executive, a judiciary and a legislative. The state government is headed by the Governor of Tel ...

decided to construct Thupakulagudem Barrage at the present location, which is 3 km downstream of the existing J. Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation pump house with FRL of +77.0 meters. At this location, there is no large land submergence with only river bed of 580.18 hectares and 94 hectares of surrounding land will get submerged. This would provide pondage for drawing the water for J. Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation scheme. On February 13, 2020, Thupakulagudem Barrage was officially renamed as Sammakka Barrage, after tribal warrior goddess Sammakka. The boundary of

Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary located in Eturnagaram village in Mulugu district in Telangana, India. It is located from Warangal and from Hyderabad. It is a integrated tribal development town. The sanctuary is loc ...

is located at the close proximity from this barrage, where biennial festival of Sammakka Saralamma Jatara is held honour the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

goddesses Sammakka. In Spring 2021, the civil works of the barrage were mostly completed and subsequently in June, 2021 the process of impounding water into barrage commenced. At an FRL of +85 meters, 6.94 TMC of water is expected to be stored whereas, at reservoir level of 70 to 71 meters 2.90 TMC of water is expected to be stored. J. Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation Project uses water from 71 meters. The works pertaining to ''Sammakka Hydro Electric Project'' are yet to be started by ''Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited'' and only civil works pertaining to the intake penstock gates has been reported to completed.

References

{{Hydrography of Telangana Barrages in India Dams in Telangana 2021 establishments in Telangana Dams completed in 2021