Banakacharla Gets a Maha Block
The Maharashtra government has written to the Union Jal Shakti ministry on October 8, primarily saying that if any lower riparian state were to be allowed to use flood or ‘all waters’ on the Godavari, then Maharashtra reserves the right to do so
HYDERABAD: Maharashtra may have just made life a lot more easier for Telangana over Andhra Pradesh’s plans for the Banakacharla project, which the neighbouring Telugu state has been saying will use only surplus waters in the Godavari river and that it would in no way impact the rights of the upper riparian states of Maharashtra and Telangana.
Throwing a huge spoke in AP’s plans to divert 243 tmc ft of ‘flood’ water a year from the Polavaram dam on the Godavari to the Banakacharla regulator on the Srisailam right main canal on the Krishna river — a project that Telangana has been opposing — the Maharashtra government wrote to the Union Jal Shakti ministry on October 8 primarily saying that if any lower riparian state were to be allowed to use flood or ‘all waters’ on the Godavari, then Maharashtra reserved the right to do so.
Though Maharashtra did not mention Telangana in its letter, it referred to AP as ‘the then unified AP’, thus making it clear that any use of the river’s water by AP will need to be scrutinised in a manner that will not harm its interests, along with the interests of Chhattisgarh and Odisha. As per the Maharashtra government stand, Maharashtra and even Karnataka will get a stake as the Banakacharla project was intended to take the Godavari water to the Krishna river where the water sharing is governed by the Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal (KWDT).
In what could be a huge breather to Telangana, Maharashtra said that in 1980, the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal had allocated to Maharashtra “all waters” at various projects in that state, and claimed that ‘all waters” also “include flood waters.”
Thus, Maharashtra said, before the Jal Shakti ministry can even begin its appraisal of any flood-based project on the Godavari, as in the case of the Polavaram-Banakacharla link project of Andhra Pradesh, “the entitlement of flood waters to the upper riparian state has to be decided first.”
Further and full examination is required on the matter of whether “the flood water contemplated to be diverted is unutilised water from the legitimate share of Godavari water of sub-basins in upper riparian state, it said.
Even though some of the projects planned by the upper riparian states might be incomplete in the sub-basins and utilisation is apparently less, the total planned use of all projects and not the actual utilisation in the said sub-basins need to be considered while arriving at the exact quantum of water (available in the river), Maharashtra said.
Since AP is planning to divert 243 tmc ft of Godavari water into the Krishna, the states under the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I’s award — meaning Maharashtra and Karnataka — will have the right to seek a share from such diversions.
Given AP plans to divert 80 tmc ft of water from the Polavaram to the Krishna delta system, there exists a provision to use the same amount of water from the river with Karnataka and Maharashtra having rightful claims for 21 and 14 tmc ft respectively, while the rest 45 of the tmc ft can be used by AP (including Telangana, as per the Maharashtra letter).
Going by this argument, the 243 tmc ft that AP plans to divert from the Godavari to the Krishna will also need to be shared in the right proportions with Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Maharashtra letter to the jal shakti ministry said.