Hyderabad: Krishna water tribunal rejects AP plea on PRLIS

Hyderabad : The Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) has overcome yet another legal hurdle as the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II on Wednesday struck down the petition of the Andhra Pradesh Government.

The Andhra Pradesh Government had filed the Interlocutory Application (IA) on December 28, 2022 requesting the tribunal to restrain Telangana from utilising 90 tmc ft of Krishna water for PRLIS out of 75 per cent dependable flows from the Srisailam reservoir. Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -II Chairman Justice Brijesh Kumar, Members Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice S Talapatra at New Delhi pronounced the judgment on Wednesday.

The tribunal said that it does not have jurisdiction to entertain the application moved for grant of interim relief. The tribunal has also said that the Andhra Pradesh government has liberty to move appropriate forums. From Telangana, Senior Counsel CS Vaidyanathan, Advocate on Record Nikhil Swamy, Advocate Harish Vaidyanatahan and other lawyers and Superintending Engineer R Koteshwar Rao, Executive Engineer S Vijaya Kumar and Deputy Executive Engineer N Ravi Shankar appeared in the proceedings. From AP Senior counsel Umapathi, Srinivas and other lawyers and senior engineers Srinivas and Ravikumar and others appeared.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said that it was a victory for the people of Palamuru. The Minister said that now there are no hurdles to lift 90 tmc ft of water from the project. The sub-judice bar may be deemed to have been removed by the judgment of the tribunal, he said.

The Palamuru Rangareddy Lifts have already received permission from the Forest, Environment, Central Ground Water Department, Electricity Authority, Central Materials Research Station and others. He attributed the success to the persistence by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The Centre should immediately identify and remove the obstructions of the Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme, demanded the minister. He has demanded the Centre to immediately settle Telangana’s share of water in the Krishna river.