Hyderabad: The Krishna Waters Dispute Tribunal, headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar, on Friday delivered its final verdict on the sharing of Krishna river waters among the three riparian states — Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. This verdict is similar to the verdict it announced three years ago, on December 30, 2010, except for the proviso allotting four more tmc ft of water to Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme Right Canal to benefit Andhra Pradesh.
However, the final award announced on Friday will not be notified in the Central government gazette and will, therefore, not come into force immediately due to the Special Leave Petition filed by the AP government in the Supreme Court, which has restrained the Centre from proceeding with its implementation.
Party leaders from the state say that the verdict sounds the death knell for AP and its projects under the prestigious Jalayagnam scheme, as the tribunal has refused to make allotment for projects taken up using surplus waters. They have also raised a hue and cry over the tribunal allowing Karnataka to raise the height of the controversial Almatti Dam, from 519.6 metres to 524.265 metres to impound more Krishna water allotted to that state.
Former advocate-general and chief counsel of the AP government before the tribunal, K. Sudarshan Reddy, said in Delhi that the tribunal’s verdict, which was indeed delivered three years ago, did not either bring cheer or sorrow to AP. He said the AP government will try to get more justice from the Supreme Court in the pending special leave plea filed by the government.
AP projects on Krishna to suffer
Notwithstanding how the yet-to-be-formed Krishna Regulatory Authority will enforce the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal award, AP will now have to wait longer to receive water from upstream Karnataka as there has been increased allocation to that state.
However, the tribunal felt all three states should share the good years and deficit years equally. It is difficult for any regulatory authority to enforce discipline on upstream states that generally tend to impound more water, get their dams filled, and then release the remaining water to downstream states.
If that is going to happen, AP projects on the Krishna will suffer badly due to non-availability of water at the right time of raising crops under various projects spread across 12 districts in all the three regions of the state. This means the government will either have to reschedule the cropping pattern under the projects, or limit the use to dry crops.
The AP government will also have to reallocate water to various projects because the entire quantum AP gets now — 1,005 tmc ft — has be divided and without any surplus water.
In the long run, if there is going to be increase in utilisation among upper states like Karnataka and Maharashtra, AP’s share will get slashed and consequentially hydel generation from Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar will be badly affected.
