The extent of the floodplains of the Krishna river and Kondaveeti Vagu were argued furiously by advocates in the matter of developmental activity planned for the Capital City of Andhra Pradesh on the banks of the river between Vijayawada and Guntur in the National Green Tribunal in New Delhi on Monday.
Advocates Sanjay Parikh and Sravan Kumar, arguing on behalf of petitioner Pandalaneni Srimannarayana, said that the State government failed to provide the extent of the floodplains of Krishna River and Kondaveeti Vagu. The Capital Area Development Authority (CRDA) had admitted that the height of the capital area had to be raised by two metres to prevent inundation from the Kondaveeti Vagu and the Krishna river.
The advocate, pleading the case on behalf of the State government, A.K Ganguli, said that the extent of the floodplains had been already identified by an authentic agency. At this juncture, Green Tribunal chairperson Justice Swantanter Kumar said there was a difference between ‘identifying’ the extent of floodplains and their ‘demarcation’. In response to the observation by the chairperson, the advocates of the State government produced a map. Mr Parikh raised an objection saying that the map was not given to him and that a committee of experts be appointed to determine the exact extent of the floodplains.
Mr Ganguli argued that there was no need for the appointment of a committee as an authentic agency had already given the markings.
The chairperson said that it wanted to hold the final hearing on the issue as soon as possible and fixed April 22 as the date of next hearing. The NGT bench, which wanted to post the hearing next week itself, obliged to the request of the State government’s counsel for extra time.
Advocates of the petitioner say the State government failed to provide the extent of the floodplains of Krishna River and Kondaveeti Vagu
