HYDERABAD: Resuming his arguments before the Brijesh Kumar tribunal on Tuesday, Telangana senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan explained basin parameters in detail. He stated several aspects of it with respect to irrigation under existing, ongoing and contemplated projects of Telangana.
The counsel quoted from the Cauvery judgement of 2018 regarding importance of in-basin and other parameters.
He argued, “The aspect that the irrigation intensity should be such as to extend the benefits of irrigation to a large number of farm families as much as possible, keeping in view the need to maximise production, was also underlined. It was most importantly provided that water sharing/distribution amongst the states should be guided by national perspective with due regard to the availability of water resources and the needs within the river basin.”
When the Tribunal enquired how Telangana can go ahead with the construction of projects without approvals, the counsel informed that erstwhile Andhra Pradesh itself has taken up all the ongoing projects and several projects’ DPRs were submitted to the KWDT-II in 2006.
The Telangana counsel also informed that Telangana government submitted Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLISis) report to the Central Water Commission (CWC) for approval and pursuing it earnestly. But, CWC is expressing its inability to give approval as the matter is subjudice as it is before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal for making allocations.
The Telangana counsel also explained about the plight of the Mahabubnagar district areas which have no irrigation facility.