Senior BJP leader and former Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said that the indifferent attitude of the State government to the cases filed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over share of additional water in the Krishna would have a deterrent impact on the State’s interests and utilisation of water allotted by the Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal.
Talking to The Hindu on Monday, Mr. Bommai said although the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act clearly states that the dispute over sharing of waters between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would not have any impact on Karnataka and Maharashtra, both States in the guise of dispute over the sharing of water have filed petitions before the Supreme Court challenging the award given by the Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal.
Mr. Bommai said that Karnataka was not seeing through the devious game played by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and not countering the plea effectively in the Supreme court. “We should counter the plea in the Supreme court, otherwise it would jeopardise the hard work done all these years in getting a favourable nod for increasing the height of Alamatti Balancing reservoir and getting a fair share in the additional water.”
The BJP leader warned that providing additional irrigation facilities to 13 lakh acres in drought-prone areas in the Krishna basin was at stake now and that the State government should not allow Pandora’s Box to be opened as desired by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
