Krishna waters: Tribunal to start hearing arguments on 1,004 tmc ft

Hyderabad: The Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal has decided to start hearing the arguments between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states over allotment of Krishna waters from the 1,004 tmc ft quota earmarked for undivided AP from July 6.

As per the directions of Tribunal, both states have submitted their replies on Thursday to the Statements of the Case (the reply by AP to the statement of TS and vice versa) filed earlier.

The Tribunal gave time till May 15 to both the states to file rejoinders to the replies.

The Tribunal also stipulated May 30 as the date for filing of the Draft Statement by both the governments on what the actual relief, like project specific allotments, they want from the Tribunal.

Based on these averments, the Tribunal will hear the arguments and give its verdict.

On Thursday senior counsels C.S. Vaidyanathan from TS and A.K. Ganguly from AP were present before the Tribunal.

Both the states stuck to their points of view either in statement and replies.

The TS government said the state has got great injustice in allotment of Krishna waters to the projects in the region, and in undivided AP, arguments before various tribunals reflected only the needs of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions and not Telangana projects and allocations.

The AP government, refuting this allegation, said that undivided AP consisted of all regions, including Telangana.

It said that the decisions and allotments taken at that time were collective decision by the then government in the interests of all the regions of the state and as such, it cannot be accused of any injustice.