Telangana urges Centre to refer its case to KWDT-II to finalise its fair in Krishna water

Hyderabad: The State government on Friday urged the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) to once again refer its complaint made under Section 3 of the Inter State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II or Brijesh Kumar Tribunal immediately to finalise the fair and equitable share of Telangana in […]

Hyderabad: The State government on Friday urged the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) to once again refer its complaint made under Section 3 of the Inter State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II or Brijesh Kumar Tribunal immediately to finalise the fair and equitable share of Telangana in Krishna waters.

In a letter addressed to Secretary of the Department of Water Resources (MoJS) Pankaj Kumar, Special Chief Secretary for Irrigation Rajat Kumar, on behalf of the Telangana government, pointed out that the second Apex Committee meeting held on October 6, 2020 took a categorical decision to refer Telangana’s complaint under Section 3 of the ISRWD Act to a tribunal. Accordingly, the Telangana government had already withdraw its petition in the Supreme Court and the same was communicated to MoJS.

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On whether the complaint be referred to KWDT-II, which is not dissolved under Section 12 of the ISRWD Act, or to a new tribunal, the Telangana government felt that it would be appropriate to refer the it to the existing Tribunal. Rajat Kumar reiterated that only a complaint under Section 3 of ISRWD Act would ensure equitable allocation of the Krishna river water between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“There can’t be any legal bar for referring Telangana’s complaint made under Section 3 since the scope and ambit of both (Section 3 and Section 89) the provisions are different. Telangana’s plea can’t be viewed as affecting the rights or interests of upper riparian States i.e. Karnataka and Maharashtra as it’s only a process of adjudication of the legitimate rights of Telangana”, he explained. Further, he noted that the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) was sharing Krishna water between AP and Telangana on ad-hoc basis, as was being followed in erstwhile AP, stating that revising the shares was not in its purview and only an appropriate tribunal could review it.

Despite several representations of Telangana in KRMB meetings, the sharing of Krishna water has been retained at the same level as was done in 2015 (namely 299 TMC to Telangana and 512 TMC to Andhra Pradesh). Based on the relevant basin parameters like cultivable area within the basin, drought prone areas and population within the basin, the State of Telangana is pleading for an allocation of over 574.6 TMC out of 75 per cent dependable flows of river Krishna, before KWDT-II.

 

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