The amendment to Gazette facilitates largescale diversion of Krishna water outside basin from Srisailam while limiting Telangana from diverting inside the basin.
By Salla Vijaya Kumar
Recently, the Centre issued an amendment to last year’s gazette notification, which notified that projects of Krishna basin be brought under the jurisdiction of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). The amendment has exempted head works of surplus-water-based projects, listed in Para 10 of schedule-XI of AP Reorganisation Act (APRA), 2014, from obtaining time-bound approval of competent authorities. It facilitates large-scale diversion of Krishna water outside the basin from Srisailam reservoir while limiting Telangana from diverting inside the basin.
The projects taken up by erstwhile AP were selective from 1956 to 2014 and, as a result, only a few projects serving inside the Krishna basin in the Telangana region were taken up. The list of projects in Para-10 of Schedule-XI is not comprehensive and doesn’t include even those projects which were taken up by erstwhile AP, namely Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi and Srisailam Left Bank Canal.
KWDT-I on Future Projects
During adjudication, the Bachawat Tribunal (KWDT-1) considered that projects existing or committed as of September I960 should be protected and projects committed after it should be regarded as new or future projects. It stipulated that for allocation to future projects, priority should be given to inside basin diversions. It is important to know that while deciding on future projects, the KWDT-I negated demands for outside basin projects placed by erstwhile AP and allocated water to the Jurala project.
However, after the KWDT-I Award in 1976, violating its stipulation, the erstwhile AP took up six projects to divert water to outside basin Andhra areas; two projects namely, Srisailam Right Branch Canal (19 TMC in 1981) and Pulichintala project (9 TMC in 1996) were redistributed with dependable water; and four were proposed, namely Galeru Nagari, Handri Niva, Veligonda and Telugu Ganga, under surplus water. These four projects were placed in Para 10 of Schedule-XI of APRA 2014.
KWDT-I & KWDT-II
The Bachawat Tribunal allocated 811 TMC as en bloc to the erstwhile AP out of 2,130 TMC in the Krishna basin at 75% dependability. The erstwhile AP has distributed 512 TMC for projects serving Andhra areas (68% of it is diverted to outside basin) and 299 TMC for projects serving inside basin areas of Telangana. The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal (KWDT-2) forwarded its Award in 2013 to the Centre and has not yet been published due to Supreme Court stay orders.
The KWDT-2 didn’t change the KWDT-1’s 811 TMC allocation and further allocated water up to average flows which includes 150 TMC carryover storage at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar. Hence, after the KWDT-1 & KWDT-2 awards, combined AP got 1,005 TMC of the total 2,578 TMC in the Krishna basin. The existing KWDT-II was extended in 2014 under Section-89 of APRA, 2014, to make project-wise specific allocation and prepare operational protocol.
AP’s pleadings before the existing KWDT-II are as follows: of the 811 TMC, 512 TMC and 299 TMC to AP and Telangana respectively; beyond 811 TMC up to 1,005 TMC, about 80% to AP and about 20% to Telangana; beyond 1,005 TMC, six projects in Para 10 of Schedule-XI be given allocation out of surplus water, ie, AP’s four projects 150.5 TMC and Telangana’s two projects 62 TMC; all the remaining water after project-wise marking to Schedule-XI projects, be allowed to be utilised only by AP.
These pleadings of AP are similar to what was made by it at the time of State bifurcation in 2014. Sadly, AP wants to deny any water, even remaining water, to the three projects taken up by the erstwhile AP and not included in Schedule-XI, namely Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi and Srisailam Left Bank Canal of Telangana.
Telangana placed its pleadings before the existing KWDT-II for fair and equitable share based on the basin parameters and for reasonable limitations on outside basin diversions. Further, as the references given to the existing KWDT-II had limited scope, Telangana made a complaint under Section-3 of ISRWD Act, 1956, to the Centre to refer its grievances to a Tribunal. It is pending for the last eight years with the Centre. Unfortunately, though Telangana withdrew the case before Supreme Court a year ago based on the union Minister’s assurance, the complaint is not yet referred.
It is pertinent to know that Schedule-XI of APRA 2014 contains only principles governing the functioning of KRMB and it is not an allocation of surplus water by Parliament. Allocation of water of inter-State rivers is the prerogative of the Tribunal as per Article 262 of the Constitution. The list in Para 10 of Schedule-XI is not comprehensive and Parliament did not put any restriction on the number of projects.
KRMB and Sharing of Water
The KRMB has to function as per the Tribunal Awards. Since the project-wise specific allocation is yet to be finalised by the Tribunal, since 2015-16, year-to-year basis, an ad hoc agreed ratio of sharing of available water between the two States is followed. However, as projects of Telangana are increasingly operationalised, more water is being sought by Telangana. In the latest KRMB meeting, AP asked for continuation of last year’s ratio of sharing of 66:34 (AP:TS) for which Telangana disagreed and sought 50:50. But the KRMB decided to continue with 66:34 for this year too.
Of the six projects in Schedule-XI, four projects of AP have a diversion capability of 5.15 TMC/day outside the basin from Srisailam reservoir and two projects of Telangana have 0.53 TMC/day (0.28 TMC/day from Srisailam; 0.25 TMC/day from Jurala). The storage capacity in AP linked with these projects is about 300 TMC and that in Telangana is only about 20 TMC. Taking advantage of these existing capabilities, AP is demanding to allow diversion of surplus flows when all dams are spilling, without accounting them as ‘use’ by the States. At present, at KRMB, it is being attempted to demarcate surplus flows on the same lines.
Centre Should Act
The amendment to the Gazette on head works of projects in Schedule-XI and not referring Section-3 complaint to a Tribunal by the Centre, coupled with the recent KRMB’s actions, are facilitating all the dependable and surplus-water-based projects of AP be sustained in perpetuity by diverting water up to 700 km away from the basin and denying diversion to drought-prone Krishna basin areas adjacent to Krishna river in Telangana. These actions will prejudice the cause of Telangana before the Tribunals and Supreme Court.
The Centre should refer the Section-3 complaint to a Tribunal and withdraw the amendment to the Gazette immediately. It should take steps to allow a fair share to Telangana at KRMB and restrain it from demarcating surplus water in the way it is being done now. It is the responsibility of the Centre to safeguard the democratic aspirations of the people of Telangana and uphold the spirit of ISRWD Act, 1956, and APRA, 2014.