Hyderabad: Telangana has filed a petition in the tribunal led by Justice Brijesh Kumar, requesting an immediate start to arguments in the inquiry regarding the distribution of Krishna water.
The application was submitted on Thursday, December 5. The Telangana government was represented by legal advisor Adityanath Das, senior advocates CS Vaidyanathan and V Ravinder Rao, former chairman of the Central Water Commission Kushvinder Vohras, and hydrology expert Chetan Pandit.
The Andhra Pradesh side was represented by senior advocates Jaydeep Gupta and Umapathi. In an affidavit submitted by Andhra Pradesh concerning the operational protocol of the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar projects, senior advocates CS Vaidyanathan and Ravinder Rao cross-examined the witness AK Goyal on Thursday.
When questioned whether all reservoirs within the Krishna basin should prepare an operational protocol, Telangana’s lawyer affirmed that it was necessary.
The tribunal also raised questions about whether the Bachawat Tribunal had made broad allocations or if it had done so on a project-wise or state-wise basis.
Goyal responded that broad allocations had indeed been made and that the Bachawat Tribunal had previously provided protection for existing usage based on projects.
Furthermore, when asked whether they were considering the release of 342 TMC of water from Jurala to meet the needs of common reservoirs requiring 520 TMC,
Goyal clarified that they had not accounted for water transferred from Polavaram (Godavari) to the Krishna delta in their calculations.
As Telangana decided against extending the cross-examination on operational protocols, it is expected to conclude on Friday.
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