The Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governments which are at loggerheads on several issues in the recent weeks were in harmony, for a change, at the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II meeting held at New Delhi on Thursday.
Legal counsel, who represented the two States at the tribunal sitting were in one voice in demanding project-wise allocation of water to different projects constructed by the riparian States in the Krishna basin, even as their counterparts for the Karnataka and Maharashtra Governments vehemently opposed the idea. However, the senior advocates for Telangana and AP were successful in driving their point home by stating that it was the Union Government’s direction as mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
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The tribunal, chaired by Justice Brijesh Kumar, later directed the four riparian States – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh – to submit their written responses on project-specific allocation of water as mentioned in Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 in six weeks and posted the next hearing to October 15.
Section 89 of the Act says: “The term of Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal shall be extended with the following terms of reference, namely -- shall make project-wise specific allocation, if such allocation have not been made by a tribunal constituted under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 and shall determine an operational protocol for project-wise release of water in the event of deficit flows”.
The Act further stated that project-specific awards, if made by the tribunal on or before the appointed day shall be binding on the successor States.
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Official sources stated that legal counsel of Karnataka and Maharashtra had faulted the tribunal issuing notices to them for attending the sitting since they were in no way concerned with the AP Reorganisation Act and the disputes was between the two successor States of Telangana and AP and they must resolve the issues without involving the other two States. Further, they observed that the objectives of the Union Government were not clear as per the provision made in the Reorganisation Act.
However, the tribunal directed the States in disagreement that submission of their written responses on the project-specific allocation of water was must to decide the scope of enquiry.
Principal Secretary (Irrigation) Aditya Nath Das and Advisor to State Government (Irrigation) R. Vidyasagar Rao also attended the meeting on behalf of AP and Telangana, respectively.