Aug 20th 2011 -- Industrial Tour to Veligonda project

Ø  Aug 20^th 2011 -- Industrial Tour to Veligonda project
Our long-awaited tour to Pulla Subbayya Veligonda project began on the morning of 8^th July 2011. It was an exciting start. We boarded a bus and started at N.T.R CIRCLE in the morning at 6:30 AM. We enjoyed our journey from Vijayawada to Ongole, prakasam district. We reached to the tunnel -1 located at Markapur by 1PM.
Prakasam district may have to wait for three more years for completion of its dream project, Veligonda that would bring 43.58 tmcft of Krishna water from the foreshore of Srisailam project to irrigate 3.36 lakh acres in its most backward upland areas.
Veligonda project envisages drawing flood waters of Krishna river for 45 days in a year through two tunnels running over 18.8 km in the Nallamala reserve forest and empty them into Nallamala Sagar formed by closing three gaps in the hill ranges by constructing cement concrete dams at Gottipadia, Sunkesula and Kakarla villages near Markapur. Three canals would take off from the huge reservoir to supply water in all to 4.47 lakh acres in Prakasam, Nellore and Kadapa districts. The Rs. 5,150 crore Project, which should have been completed by 2008, is bogged down due to delays in drilling the tunnels, construction of dams, acquisition of land for canals and rehabilitation of 11 villages that would face submersion.
While L & T has completed the Gottipadia dam, the other two smaller dams are expected to be completed in one year.    Meanwhile, tunnel drilling was delayed due to technical problems hampering the project. As a tiger reserve is located in Nallamala forest, manual blasting was not permitted on the plea that it would affect the big cats.
Finally having kept the cherished memories of our   tour we returned to Vijayawada on 9^th July 2011 at 2AM. It was not only a pleasure trip but also an educational tour that gave us a clear idea of our theoretical subjects. Tour was organized by a third year student Ms. Sai Mounisha Reddy under the Guidance of Mr. K. Shyam Prakash and K. Bala. The same tour was entertained a lot with the co operation of our Mr. V.S.R.K. Prasad, Lab Technician and Mr. Ch. Nagaraju, Lab Assistant We thank Almighty God for bringing us safe and sound!