Telangana CM Revanth bats for 'international principles' on water sharing before river tribunal to safeguard state's share

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has ordered irrigation officials to present effective arguments before the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal on river-water sharing without causing any loss to the interests of the state.

Irrigation officials and legal experts have been asked to collect required evidence, records and orders and ready to make arguments on behalf of the state government before the Tribunal. He made it clear to the officials that state should get its share of water from river Krishna and Godavari .

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy held a review on irrigation projects with the officials concerned on Saturday. The Chief Minister, minister and officials discussed the availability of irrigation water in the state, pending inter-state disputes over Krishna and Godavari waters and the strategies which needs to be adopted by the state government regarding the distribution of water in the meeting.

As per the AP Reorganization Act, Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has been entrusted with the responsibility of water sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the project-wise water allocations. So far, the tribunal has only collected opinions and evidence from the state governments. The officials briefed the Chief Minister that the two states will present their arguments before the tribunal soon and then the tribunal will take decision and announce the same.

The officials informed Revanth Reddy that the verdicts delivered by the tribunal so far regarding the Krishna basin area and the DPRs related to which projects have already been submitted to the tribunal. The Chief Minister instructed the officials to keep all the reports given to the Ministry of Jal Shakti ready in a sequential order and to present arguments before the tribunal in a structured manner.

According to international water principles, water allocation should be made in the same proportion depending on the river basin area covered. While 70 percent of the Krishna basin area is located in Telangana and the AP covers only 30 percent . According to the same arguments, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to present arguments so that Telangana gets 70 percent of the water share out of 1005 TMC of available water from river Krishna.

The Chief Minister reminded that since AP was using 80 TMC of Godavari water for Krishna Delta through Polavaram, 45 TMC of water has been allocated to Telangana upstream of Nagarjunasagar in return . The Chief minister instructed the officials to implement the plan and utilize water share through upstream projects.

Revanth Reddy questioned the consideration of the decisions of KRMB and GRMB since the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has not yet completed water sharing between two states . The Chief Minister advised the officials to present arguments in the Supreme Court that there should be no interference of Godavari and Krishna boards until the distribution of water shares by the Tribunal is completed.

It is learnt that AP is transferring more water than its quota from Krishna waters through various projects. Officials explained to the Chief Minister that this can be stopped with the telemetry system which scientifically measures the flow of water. Officials explained to him that the two states should pay Rs. 12 crores, each Rs 6 crore to spend on the installment of telemetry equipment. The Chief Minister suggested that the officials to pay entire amount in advance, if necessary, and implement the telemetry system. Later, the AP will reimburse the amount. Revanth Reddy instructed the officials to put an end to the injustice meted out to Telangana in water consumption and calculate how much water each state uses through all the projects on the Krishna. All the details of shifting of water from Srisailam, Pothireddypadu, Bankancherla Head Regulatory, Telugu Ganga, KC Canal, Handri Niva, Galeru Nagari, and Velugodu projects should also be recorded.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials to obtain the necessary permissions for the Sitarama Project and Sammakka Barrage and to take all the necessary work to irrigate the entire ayacut.

He also asked the officials to prepare a comprehensive report on projects, water sharing , existing GOs and judgments from 2014 to date, memos, government order, DPRs of projects in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and the losses incurred by Telangana in water sharing. This report will be used for effective arguments before the Tribunal and other platforms to protect the interests of Telangana.