HYDERABAD: Criticising the Government for what it called "half-hearted efforts", the Telugu Desam Party has demanded that the Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy consult all parties and irrigation experts to strengthen the State's case before the Krishna Water Tribunal.

It blamed the Government for not doing its homework properly thereby giving scope for neighbouring States during depositions before the Tribunal to accuse it of constructing "illegal" projects.

TDP general secretaries K. Srihari and E. Peddi Reddy and official spokesperson P. Srinivas Reddy told a press conference here on Saturday that the State's legal team had failed to present its case convincingly. Instead of fighting for securing surplus Krishna water rights, the Government was preparing to give an undertaking to the tribunal foregoing its right, they alleged.

Fails in clarification

Karnataka had even stated that the Srisailam Right Branch Canal (SRBC), Pulichintala, Bhima Lift Irrigation Scheme and Koilsagar project were being constructed in violation of the Bachawat award. It was "unfortunate" that the State failed to clarify such doubts.

Mr. Srihari said the Government could not take preventive action when Maharashtra was constructing the Babli barrage on the Godavari or effectively counter the opposition by Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik to the construction of Polavaram and Vamsadhara projects.

No interim order

Meanwhile, the Tribunal headed by Mr. Brijesh Kumar completed its first round of hearing of the arguments on Friday by the three riparian states. But it did not issue any interim injunction stopping the execution of 11 projects taken up by Andhra Pradesh as sought by Karnataka.

The Tribunal indicated that it would not give any interim order. State officials who attended the hearings for four days, interpreted this as "a virtual rejection" of the Karnataka plea.

On the last day, counsel for Andhra Pradesh Deepankar Gupta drew the Tribunal's attention to the " illegal" construction of many projects in the Krishna basin by Karnataka and Maharashtra.

He argued that the 11 projects cited by Karnataka were "well within the entitlement of Andhra Pradesh" over the surplus waters of the river and pleaded against any interim order at this stage without full information on all projects. The next hearing will be held on April 17.

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