State may move SC against AP

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JAN. 7. The State Government has taken serious objection to Andhra Pradesh contemplating to use all the surplus waters of the Krishna and has decided to mobilise all the resources at its command counter such a situation.

The Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, Mr. H. K. Patil, told presspersons here today that Karnataka's charge on the lower riparian State was borne out of evidence and if forced to do so, the State would not hesitate to petition even the Supreme Court. The two States had not been in good terms over the utilisation of Krishna waters irrespective of the clearcut award of the Bachchawat Tribunal, which allocated 2,060 tmcft of water under Scheme ``A'' to the riparian States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Karnataka would seek the intervention of the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, apart from the Union Minister for Water Resources to amicably sort out the matter. Apart from sending petitions to the Union Government, the representatives of the State Government would call on the Prime Minister to immediately take note of the matter and prevent the situation going out of control.

Mr. Patil said Andhra Pradesh had put up a Website - WWW AP Irrigation.com - in which it had clearly pointed out that all the surplus waters in the Krishna would be utilised by it.

As per the Bachchawat Award, the surplus waters in the Krishna has been estimated at around 330 tmcft and of this the two lower riparian States have been given an equal allocation. Irrigation schemes to utilise the surplus waters can be evolved and implemented only after the May 2000 deadline for utilisation of the river's waters earmarked under Scheme ``A''.

He said the State had been raising objections over the ``designs'' of Andhra Pradesh to utilise the surplus waters in the Krishna. The Website had now come as a clear evidence. Karnataka would not have had any objection if Andhra Pradesh had sought to implement irrigation schemes pertaining to utilisation of its share of surplus waters. ``They are purposely doing this to prevent us from using our quota''.

The Minister said Andhra Pradesh, involving a massive expenditure of Rs. 33,000 crores, was implementing several schemes expeditiously irrespective of the fact that many schemes had not received the consent of the Central Water Commission. There were several schemes which were not even brought to the notice of the Union Government and the CWC.

Apart from the controversial Telugu Ganga project, the other irrigation schemes under implementation in Andhra Pradesh, which had not received the CWC approval, he said, were the Srisailam Left Bank canal, the Sileru Nagari project, the Veligonda project and the Handriniva project. All these schemes were based on surplus waters of the Krishna and Andhra Pradesh was attempting to create adequate infrastructure to utilise more than what was allocated to it.

Mr. Patil said: ``I urge the Government of India to take note of this public declaration of the Andhra Pradesh Government and initiate urgent steps to stop them from creating any infrastructure to utilise our share of Krishna waters. They have been creating the infrastructure with the surmise that they could apportion the entire surplus waters in the Krishna. We will take the matter to all relevant forum and bodies, if need be''.

Asked whether he was aware of the quantum of waters that could be stored or utilised by the new irrigation schemes in the neighbouring State, he said, he was not aware straightway but details of the schemes were available. In the interest of justice to all the States concerned, the Prime Minister should immediately intervene. Karnataka had not taken up any irrigation project in violation of rules and regulations or against the allocation made to it.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Regional
Previous : TTD to use 'hi-tech' methods soon
Next     : Deve Gowda coming for patch-up bid