HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh counsel Jaideep Gupta, continuing final arguments before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar on Tuesday, contended that the saving of 15.78 tmcft due to development of the capital region by the CRDA as pleaded by Telangana was incorrect.
He described as baseless Telangana’s argument that the capital will cease to be an agricultural zone due to urbanisation and as such the requirement of water in the area will be reduced, thereby freeing up water for allocation.
Gupta argued that as per the AP Capital Region Development Authority Act (APCRDAA), 2014, CRDA is only a draft prospective plan which may take about 100 years for development. As the draft has not been gazetted, it has no force of law. He further stated that there is a difference between capital city and capital region.
The AP advocate said that no part of the capital city area is in the Krishna Delta System (KDS) ayacut. A very small part of 891 acres out of 53,600 acres of Capital city area overlaps with Vykuntapuram Lift irrigation scheme and presently the scheme is defunct.He argued that Telangana’s calculations to arrive at 15.78 tmcft based on the report of Telangana Remote Sensing Application Centre are incorrect.
Gupta stated that Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme is a temporary structure diverting flood waters (not dependable waters) from Godavari to Krishna Delta System as Polavaram dam is not completed. As and when the dam is completed, Pattiseema lift scheme will cease to operate. There is no separate canal system for Pattiseema lift scheme.
He denied the Telangana contention of drawal of Godavari water more than the permitted limit of 80 tmcft as infrastructure has been developed for Pattiseema Lift scheme with huge investment so that AP can use Polavaram as well as Pattiseema LIS. He argued that the claims of Telangana that AP will continue to divert from flood waters after Polavaram is complete is completely false.
He also stated that 45 tmcft allocation to Telangana and AP out of the 80 tmcft diverted from Polavaram project is not under the jurisdiction of KWDT, it is under GWDT.
He argued that the quantum of 152.2 tmcft required for KDS even when less than 80 tmcft is diverted from Polavaram project as the remaining water is to be supplied from Krishna river. It is only an operation protocol issue and not a water allocation issue.
The AP advocate stated that of 152.2 tmcft of water earmarked for utilisation of KDS, available 53 tmcft downstream of Pulichintala project is to be utilised for KDS only since it is a part of 2,130 tmcft (total yield at 75% dependability of Krishna Basin).