Experts' panel report vouched for Andhra Pradesh stand, says Telangana

Amaravati: The Chennai Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which heard the arguments of the Telangana state government on Friday against the proposed Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS), posted the case to September 3.

The arguments followed a petition filed by one G Srinivas who accused the AP government of unilaterally scaling up the Krishna water drawal plan through the proposed LI scheme. He contended that the experts committee report that no environmental clearances were required for the project was false.

Advocate General (AG) for Telangana, Ramachandra Rao, presenting the government's contention argued on Friday that the experts committee's opinion was a reflection of the AP government stand and did not reflect the ground realities. the committee had gone solely by the AP version without verifying the actual position. The proposed project was a new one and hence it required the clearances from the environment ministry before being taken up, he said.

Moreover, the Telangana AG argued that the AP government had plans to double the drawal of waters by increasing the capacity of the project from 40,000 cusecs to 80,000 cusecs which clearly proved that the AP government had planned a new project at Pothireddypadu. Hence, he pleaded that the experts committee report be trashed and sought directions from the tribunal to the AP government to prevent it from going ahead with the project.

The AG submitted to the tribunal that his government would organise a tour of the proposed project site for the members of the experts committee for an aerial survey if they so wished to realise the gravity of the situation. The AP government had misled the committee and also was trying to mislead the tribunal in claiming that it was an existing project, Ramachandra Rao submitted.

He further stated that the Telangana state would face an irrevocable injustice if the AP government was allowed to go ahead with the project and completed it.