Inter-basin issues become relevant between AP-Telangana, says expert

Citing the example of Narmada River water sharing, Pandit stated that in Narmada, some water was given to Rajasthan with the agreement of the party states

Hyderabad: Chetan Pandit, expert witness appearing for Telangana before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal(KWDT-II) said the division of the share allocated to the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh does not remain only an inter-State issue, but it also becomes an inter-basin issue.

Pandit, who was cross-examined on Friday, told the Tribunal that earlier it was one State, but after bifurcation, there were now two States and therefore, the question of division of share becomes both inter-State and inter-basin. “I find that such diversion is invariably with the agreement of the party States,” he stated.

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Citing the example of Narmada River water sharing, Pandit stated that in Narmada, some water was given to Rajasthan with the agreement of the party states. Likewise, the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) river interlinking project that aims to transfer surplus water from the Ken river in MP to Betwa in Uttar Pradesh to irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region was taken up only after a clear agreement between the two States signed at the Chief Ministers’ level.

Since there was no agreement for inter-basin diversion between the States of the residual Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the inter-basin issues had now become relevant, he stated.