: All steps needed to safeguard the interests of Andhra Pradesh would be taken, said Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao reacting to the decision of the Krishna Water Disputes (Brijesh Kumar) Tribunal on Wednesday.
Mr Umamaheswara Rao told The Hindu that four weeks time had been given to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to raise objections, if any. The time would be utilised to study how the order on nine preliminary issues related to provisions made under Section 89 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act would impact the State, the Minister said.
A course of action would be decided after consulting irrigation and legal experts. A decision would be taken under the guidance of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, he said.
The Minister, giving the background into the decision of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, said the tribunal was constituted by the Central government with a notification in 2004 to resolve the dispute among the three States regarding sharing of river water.
The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal altered the allocations made by the earlier Bachawat Tribunal. Representatives of the three States submitted their arguments before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, but it issued the final award.
The allocations to the State were reduced because of the negligence of the then Congress Government which failed to put forth strong arguments before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, the Minister charged.
Though he was just an Opposition MLA, he filed a Special Level Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to get a stay on the implementation of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal’s recommendation, he said. Meanwhile Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and new dimensions had been added to the dispute.
