Hyderabad: Telangana on Thursday, in its arguments before the Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal-II, said the state could have benefited had a gravity canal system been implemented at the Almatti, Narayanpur, and Tungabhadra dams in the upstream reaches of River Krishna in Karnataka.
Continuing to present Telangana’s case before the tribunal in Delhi, state’s senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan said the return flows generated in Telangana region were allocated to Andhra region by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government. This water should have been used for the Telangana region and should have been given to Telangana projects, he said.
Telangana also stressed on the Supreme Court judgment on the Cauvery Tribunal award, drawing parallels between Cauvery and Krishna river basins describing both as ‘water short basins’. In both basins, the demand is more than the available water.
The Cauvery Tribunal had suggested introduction of short duration variety of crops that require less water, but realistic crop water requirement needs to be assessed based on scientific methods as suggested by the Cauvery Tribunal.
The KWDT-II is expected to conclude the hearings on Friday.
