In a major decision, the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) has agreed to look into the request of Telangana to consider the ongoing Krishna water dispute with Andhra Pradesh afresh under Section 3 of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, provided Telangana withdraws its case pending in the Supreme Court.
The Centre has also agreed to consider the two States’ request to finalise the share of water in the Godavari river too. The two States have agreed to send proposals seeking a fresh tribunal to decide the share of water. As per the Inter State River Disputes Act, the Centre is empowered to take a decision on handing over the matter to a tribunal even if one riparian State asks for it, within a year after getting the proposal/request.
“Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has agreed to withdraw the case filed by the State in the Supreme Court when we (MoJS) pointed out that the Ministry can’t take a decision on referring the matter to a tribunal as the matter is sub-judice. Accordingly, Mr. Rao has agreed to put in motion the case withdrawal process from tomorrow (Wednesday) itself to enable the Centre to the matter of referring water shares to a tribunal”, Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said after the meeting on Tuesday.
Once the Ministry receives the written commitment of Telangana that it would withdraw the case pending in the Supreme Court, the Centre would first take legal opinion on whether the matter of deciding the sharing of water between the two States could be given to the existing Brijesh Kumar Tribunal or to constitute a new tribunal for the purpose, the Union Minister said speaking after the meeting.
Although the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal had submitted its report on the allotment of water between the riparian States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, it is yet to come into force as A.P. moved the Supreme Court as it was not satisfied with the allocation of water made by the tribunal without any provision of distress sharing mechanism. Later, after A.P. was bifurcated and Telangana came into existence in 2014, the new State too moved the Supreme Court seeking higher allotment of water highlighting the injustices heaped on it from the beginning.
The Centre’s decision to consider constituting a new tribunal on Godavari water also assumes significance with A.P.’s objection to several projects taken up by Telangana in the basin although several of them were taken up during the combined State itself. The projects have been redesigned to suit the needs of Telangana and the location of head works of some projects were merged in A.P. a few months after the bifurcation of the State.
“It’s going to be a win-win situation for Telangana as there is historical evidence of the region’s neglect in the allotment of water in the two river basins besides having more than double the catchment area compared to A.P., both in the case of Godavari and Krishna rivers,” said a senior official of the Irrigation Department.
