This weekend, we took a drive to the Ranganayaka Sagar reservoir amidst heavy rain and thunderstorms, as the plan was fixed a week ago. Since we were already armed with loads of food for breakfast, and lunch, we went ahead and started the trip. Rain gods (or goddesses) cooled down within an hour, and we were welcomed with superb weather as we reached Siddipet.

Ranganayaka Sagar is 120 km from Hyderabad (so just about two hours’ drive) and is located on the outskirts of Siddipet. The reservoir is located near Chandlapur village of Chinnakodur Mandal of Siddipet district. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 3 thousand million cubic feet of water and is meant to provide irrigation to 1.10 lakh acres. The Ranganayaka Sagar Siddipet, along with the Komuravelli Mallana and Konda Pochamamma reservoirs (which we visited a month ago, and now a major tourist attraction for Hyderabad folks) forms a ring of reservoirs and will provide irrigation to Siddipet and the combined Medak district as well as the drinking water to people.

We are so glad to learn about these reservoirs and was music to our ears, and all these sights are also heavenly to view and spend time there too. This reservoir would receive water from the Kaleshwaram project via the Mid Maneru project. From here, water would flow into the Komuravelli Mallana and then on into Konda Pochamma (Markook) reservoirs. The Ranganayaka Sagar level was built at 490 meters to sea level. It means the water is being lifted 93 meters as it travels from 20-km distance from Ananthagiri to Chandlapur. The water travels through an 8.59 km tunnel while the rest of the distance, through gravity canals.

The 14 km-long blacktop road constructed along the project ayacut is a lot of fun for a drive on a car or bike when the weather is awesome. We wished we had bikes attached to our car

The reservoir’s island spans a length of 8.65 km and stands 32.4 meters tall at its highest point. It’s six meters wide, at the ground level, it’s 196 meters wide. The Haritha resort on the top of the island is a really good initiative by the Telangana Tourism department and is for now reserved for officials only. I am sure if/when it’s open for tourists, the queue for it will be a really long one

We also spent little time at Komati Cheruvu, which is also within the region