Telangana seeks fresh allocation of Krishna water

The Telangana government on Wednesday contended before the Supreme Court that since the right to access water is a human rights issue, there should be fresh allocation of the disputed waters of the Krishna river.

The state submitted before a bench presided over by Justice Dipak Misra that the orders passed by the Krishna Water Tribunals should be set aside in view of bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh and formation of Telangana.

In a fresh writ petition, it urged the court to direct the Centre to notify the setting up of a fresh tribunal under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956 to decide the issue the sharing of the river water among the four neighbouring States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

It further maintained it has got no other forum to address its grievance for a fresh allocation of the river water to claim its genuine share.

Opposing its plea, Maharashtra and Karnataka claimed that Telangana’s interest were earlier represented by the undivided Andhra Pradesh, and there cannot be any new proceedings for fresh allocation of the water. The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 10.

The bench also directed the government to fill all the vacancies in the tribunal. According to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal – II award delivered in December 2010, Andhra Pradesh was entitled to get 1,001 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water, Karnataka 907 tmcft and Maharashtra 666 tmcft.