Huge win for Telangana in Krishna river battle with AP

Hyderabad: In a huge victory for Telangana against Andhra Pradesh over the sharing of the Krishna river water, the Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal-II on Thursday said it was inclined to take up the issue of project-wise allocation of water under the new terms of reference (TOR) issued by the Centre in 2023, a stand that Telangana had fought hard for in face of stiff opposition from AP.

Telangana irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who was in New Delhi supervising Telangana’s arguments before the Tribunal, welcomed the decision and said: “The decision will pave the way for proper justice to be delivered to Telangana.”

He said that under the additional terms of reference (TOR) given by the Centre, allocation of River Krishna waters would include the earlier en bloc allocation of 811 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) done by the Bachawat tribunal, thus enabling Telangana its rightful share of the river’s waters.”

He said as per the provisions of Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, KWDT-II was to make project-wise specific allocations if they were not made by a tribunal set up as per the Interstate River Water Disputes (SRWD) Act, 1956. “But as per these TOR, the already existing project-wise allocations are not to be touched, thus restricting the amount of water to be distributed afresh to Telangana,” Uttam Kumar Reddy explained.

“In 2015, Telangana went to the Supreme Court asking for the setting of up a new tribunal which eventually paved the way for the Central government to issue new terms of reference (TOR) to KWDT-II (Brijesh Kumar Tribunal) in October 2023.”

Under the new TOR, “project-wise” means existing, on-going and contemplated projects of both the states. With Telangana having more projects on the river, the state should see a larger share of the river’s water.

Since the 2023 development, Andhra Pradesh had been arguing that the tribunal should first hear the matter as per the earlier TOR given in Section 89 of APRA, 2014 and then only then take up any matter under the additional TOR.

Andhra Pradesh had also been contending that it had filed a writ petition, No. 1230 of 2023, in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of Centre’s additional TOR, but the Supreme Court did not provide any interim relief on this matter to Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana has been arguing before the tribunal that the additional TOR issued by the Centre must be heard first, because they subsumed the earlier existing terms of reference. On Thursday, after hearing the two sides, the KWDT-II issued its orders that it was inclined to hear the matter again in February under the provisions of the new TOR, which is a big victory for Telangana.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said after Telangana’s formation, then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had entered into an agreement with AP and agreed for 299 tmc ft of water for Telangana and 512 tmc ft for AP out of the 811 tmc ft of Krishna waters awarded by Bachawat tribunal (KWDT-I) to the then combined AP state.

“This was a wrong decision by KCR because 68.5 per cent of the catchment area of Krishna Basin lies within Telangana and, accordingly, Telangana should get 555 tmc ft (68.5 per cent of 811 tmc ft) as its due share. By agreeing to 299 tmc ft only, KCR sabotaged Telangana’s interests and failed to protect the legitimate water rights of Telangana,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.

“There are many projects in Krishna Basin that do not have water allotment by the Krishna Tribunal such as Palamuru Rangareddy, Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu and Bheema lift irrigation schemes (LIS). KCR should have submitted the DPRs of these projects and should have secured approved from the Central Water Commission and Krishna River Management Board. By failing to do so, he put the lives of the people of Palamuru, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts in complete jeopardy,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.

New terms of reference to KWDT-II from Centre in October 2023

For the purpose of some specific clauses in the existing TOR, project-wise means existing, on-going and contemplated projects of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh;

Tribunal shall distribute/allocate the Krishna waters to Telangana and residuary AP from the undivided share of erstwhile state of AP.

The total undivided share of the erstwhile unified AP may be considered for the purpose of this distribution/allocation which means;

811 tmc ft enbloc allocation made by KWDT-I to the erstwhile AP and any allocations (including carry over storages) made by KWDT-II to the erstwhile AP;

45 tmc ft allocated by Godavari Waters Disputes Tribunal for utilisation in the upstream of Nagarjunasagar project (out of the total 80 tmc ft of water transfer from the Polavaram project in Godavari basin to Krishna basin).

Any transfer above 80 tmc ft from Polavaram Project or from regulated releases from Polavaram project to the Krishna Basin or to Krishna delta command.

Original terms of reference to KWDT-II (as per Section 89 of bifurcation Act2014)

Project-wise specific allocation, if such allocations were not made by a tribunal constituted under the Inter-State River Waters Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956;

Shall determine an operational protocol for project-wise release of water in the event of deficit flows;

Project specific awards already made by the tribunal on or before the appointed day shall be binding on the successor states.