Telangana has strongly contended before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal that the estimation of water requirement for paddy cultivation in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna basin by the latter’s witness P.V. Satyanarayana is wrong since the values of potential evapo-transpiration taken for the purpose are higher than the values estimated by India Meteorological Department (IMD).
During the cross-examination of Mr. Satyanarayana before the tribunal in New Delhi on Tuesday, senior counsel appearing for Telangana C.S. Vaidyanathan further argued that the crop water requirement estimated by the AP witness was inflated with the help of increased period of crop development.
Although the witness denied the counsel’s suggestion, he did not explain the authenticity of input data on potential evapo-transpiration (PET) values.
Data not verified
On intense probing on the PET, the process of water transfer to the atmosphere from soil through evaporation and from plants through transpiration, the AP witness admitted that he had not given details on input data sourced from the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) in his affidavit. Asked whether he had tried to verify the data at least on the website mentioned in his affidavit Mr. Satyanarayana said he had not accessed it so far.
When suggested that no such data was available on the website concerned, Mr. Satyanarayana, the Director of AP Rice Research Institute, said: “I do not know, can’t say anything”.
On the source of information on the number of weather stations considered by CRIDA for estimating PET values, the witness said he had only spoken to the authors of Agro-Climatic Atlas of AP.
He, however, sought time to answer on being asked that Telangana had computed lower PET values using the very data of CRIDA referred by him.
Another senior counsel for Telangana V. Ravinder Rao examined the AP witness on soil mapping and soil classification for suitability of paddy cultivation. Asked whether the witness would agree to the fact that a majority of lands in Garidpally, Chilkur and Huzurnagar mandal of erstwhile Nalgonda district, presently falling in Suryapet district, are highly or moderately suitable for paddy cultivation, Mr. Satyanarayana said he could answer only after going through the original publication of the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Utilisation Planning (NBSS&LUP).
