The Hindu : Deal cautiously with A.P. request for water, Krishna told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Deal cautiously with A.P. request for water, Krishna told

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Dec. 16. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Basavaraj Bommai, has called upon the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, to exercise caution while arriving at any decision pertaining to the demand of Andhra Pradesh for the release of Krishna waters from the Alamatti and Narayanapur dams.

In a letter to the Chief Minister today, Mr. Bommai said the Cauvery and the Krishna were like two eyes of the State.

The "bungling" in the Cauvery case should therefore not be repeated while handling the request from Andhra Pradesh.

He said it should be remembered that Andhra Pradesh had continuously demanded more water despite the allocations made under Scheme "A" and Scheme "B" of the Bacchawat Award. It had `violated' the directions of the Supreme Court and the Union Government and had executed several irrigation projects without the necessary approvals, he said.

The Chief Minister, based on a request from his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, N.Chandrababu Naidu, has invited a delegation for discussions.

The delegation will be arriving in Bangalore on Tuesday for the discussions and had sought the release of water on the ground that the water impounded in the Alamatti and the Narayanapur dams was going waste because of lack of distribution canals.

Mr. Bommai said that during the discussions, Karnataka should mount pressure on Andhra Pradesh to withdraw complaints that it had made against the State for the utilisation of its share of 729 tmcft granted under Scheme "A" of the Bacchawat Award. Further, Andhra Pradesh should be told that it was not the sole prerogative of that State to utilise the surplus water in the Krishna.

On the contrary, it should agree to the constitution of an authority to finalise the allocation of surplus waters.

He said Andhra Pradesh had unauthorisedly undertaken the Telugu Ganga Project, the Srisailam Left Bank Canal, Srisailam Right Bank Canal, Bhima Lift Irrigation and the Pulichintala Diversion scheme on the ground that the surplus water belonged to it irrespective of the directions of the Supreme Court.

Andhra Pradesh should now be told to stop the construction work in all these projects.

Mr. Bommai said Andhra Pradesh should be told not to raise any objection to the construction of irrigation projects under the Upper Krishna Project in the State to enable the utilisation of 720 tmcft earmarked for it.

Andhra Pradesh should be clearly told that the request for water should not become an annual ritual.

Our Bijapur Staff Correspondent reports:

The KPCC President, Allum Veerabhadrappa, told presspersons in Bijapur on Monday that water should not be released from the Alamatti Dam as demanded by Andhra Pradesh.

He said: "If we release water to Andhra Pradesh with a broad mind that farmers of that State are also our own countrymen, there is a chance of their expanding irrigation area, and ultimately they may claim right over the quantum of water released by us.

Same thing happened in the Cauvery Basin. Tamil Nadu got Cauvery waters from Karnataka on humanitarian grounds and expanded its command area to a large extent, because of which Karnataka is suffering now. We should not allow Krishna to become another Cauvery," he said.

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