AP Says Telangana Cannot Claim Historic Krishna Water Use

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh strongly argued before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) in New Delhi on Wednesday that Telangana cannot stake claim to waters historically utilised by AP for nearly a century.

AP’s senior counsel Jaideep Gupta submitted that Telangana had inherited the full value of AP’s investments in developing Hyderabad and that the state today enjoys the advantage of having two major rivers flowing through it, besides being one of the fastest-growing regions in the country.

He argued that Andhra Pradesh remains an agriculture-dependent state, while Telangana’s submissions were effectively aimed at diverting Krishna water from AP by seeking to appropriate all outside-basin allocations, altering AP’s cropping patterns, or forcing a shift to ID crops. Such proposals, he said, would dismantle AP’s agrarian economy.

Clarifying the distinction between Section 89 reference and Further Terms of Reference (FTOR), Gupta said Section 89 pertains to project-wise specific allocations, whereas FTOR widens the scope. He urged the Tribunal to first adjudicate Section 89 and allocate water project-wise as considered under KWDT-I.

He added that any water savings identified should be allocated to ongoing or new projects of both states, with priority given to schemes listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Allocations for common projects, he said, must follow the agreed utilisations recorded in the June 2015 meeting between both states.

He requested that AP be allowed to use remaining waters as permitted in earlier awards, noting that AP is the lowest riparian state and depends heavily on Krishna water.