HYDERABAD: “The project-wise allocation of Krishna water between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone will create severe problems. The river flows are to be considered in entirety as the river is a single hydrological unit in order to determine the operational protocol,” the Andhra Pradesh government argued before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal.
AP advocate G Prabhakar filed the affidavit before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal on Wednesday on the operational protocols relating to implementation of project-wise allocation of Krishna waters as per Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Though AP and Telangana demanded that the project-wise allocations be made for all the projects in four states, the tribunal had earlier said that AP Reorganisation Act provisions would not be applicable to Maharashtra and Karnataka. Now, arguments are taking place for project-wise allocation between AP and TS.
AP reiterated that project-wise allocations should be made to all the four riparian states. “The AP Act, 2014 contemplates project-wise specific allocations if such allocations have not been made by a tribunal. In view of this, it would be necessary that the allocations in the entire basin should be project-wise for all projects in all the states to achieve uniformity and to avoid uncertainty in planning and meeting the requirements of the projects of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.”
Further, the AP affidavit said that the project utilisations considered by KWDT-1 and KWDT-2 for arriving at en-bloc allocations may be considered as project-wise allocations for all the projects in the basin.
DEFICIT FLOWS
The KWDT-2 proposed 75 pc and 65 pc dependabilities. Allocation at different dependabilities is a new concept. By the time 75 pc dependable allocations are realised by all the states, there may not be any flows in the balance period of water year and, therefore, it may not possible for the upper riparian states as well as the erstwhile AP to utilise 65 pc and average flows unless water is available in the storages, it contended.
Hearing to continue for two more days
The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal resumed hearing on Wednesday and the hearing will continue on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday, Telangana advocate CS Vaidyanathan cross-examined AP scientist PV Satyanarayana on cropping pattern.