HYDERABAD: When the final arguments before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal resumed on Monday, the Telangana counsel alleged that AP was not seeking even a drop of water for projects inside Krishna basin.
He argued that AP wanted water for projects outside Krishna basin whereas Telangana was seeking allocation for water for projects inside Krishna basin only.
He rurther explained that Telangana was asking water for a single dry crop in the drought prone areas and not for wet crops in the new areas.
The final arguments before the Tribunal will continue till March 26.
Telangana senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan, while resuming the arguments, began with the explanation with regard to the scope of the further terms of reference referred to the Tribunal by the Central government for sharing of Krishna river waters.
He explained that as there is no inter-se division between the AP and Telangana, the issue has been referred to the Tribunal for determining allocation of waters between the two states.
Andhra Pradesh wants to continue the internal arrangement made by the earlier erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government between AP and TG. As they are skewed in favour of AP, the Telangana government wants a fresh arrangement for division of water, the counsel explained.
The sharing of water should be done on a ‘clean slate, tabula rasa’, taking into account the nationally and internationally accepted criteria for equitable apportionment of waters, the Telangana counsel said.
The per capita availability of water of Telangana is only 422 cubic meters per person per annum whereas national’s and AP’s are much more, he said.
Telangana counsel said that Andhra Pradesh has got 40 river basins wherein substantial self yields are available. But large drought prone areas in a deficit basin of Krishna in Telangana are craving for water for projects such as PRLIS. He said outside basin diversion as is being sought by AP, therefore, is not desirable.
About 330 tmcft is being diverted by AP under administrative arrangement of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to Penna basin wherein already 344 tmcft are available. Also, there are already 360 tmcft of storage available as per AP submissions at the Tribunal.
The counsel also brought to the notice of the Krishna Tribunal that Godavari diversion from Polavaram to Penna Basin (Banakacherla) on which AP has already spent hundreds of crores of rupees, which consisted of 150 tmcft storage at Bollapalli and other components.
The Tribunal posed some queries regarding the procedures of calculations adopted by Telangana in its submitted papers such as population in the Krishna Basin districts. The senior Counsel replied to them in detail along with maps.
PER CAPITA WATER AVAILABILITY AS PER KWDT-1
In the entire Krishna basin per capita water availability per year —733 cubic metres
Per capita water availability in erstwhile AP within Krishna basin — 828 cubic metres
Per capita water availability in Telangana within Krishna basin — 422 cubic metres
Telangana’s geographical area is 1,12,077 sq km with 52,232 sq km of its area lying within the Krishna River basin. In contrast, Andhra Pradesh’s geographical area is 1,62,967 sq km with only 24,019 sq km of its area lying within the Krishna River basin
The entire Mahbubnagar district and substantial parts of Rangareddy and Nalgonda districts are recognised as DPAP areas
Telangana requested the Tribunal to consider all relevant basin parameters to determine a fair share allocation guided by principles of equity
Per capita water availability in AP within Krishna basin —1,892 cubic metres
Per capita water availability in AP outside basin areas — 1,027 cubic metres