National

A.P. seeks tribunal for sharing Krishna waters

By M. Malleswara Rao

Hyderabad Jan. 22. The Andhra Pradesh Government has submitted a petition to the Centre seeking constitution of a tribunal to regulate sharing of the Krishna waters among the three riparian states, the other two being Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The petition was given to the Union Ministry of Water Resources at Delhi on Monday, by

K.Parasaran and A.K. Ganguly, senior counsel representing Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court.

Maharashtra also filed a petition a few days ago with the same plea. With this, all the three States have become petitioners before the Centre.

As per the amended version of the Inter-States River Water Disputes Act of 1956, the Centre is expected to form the tribunal within a year, asking it to submit the final report within three years from the date of such constitution.

Soon after Karnataka filed its complaint, Andhra Pradesh wanted to follow suit by November 15 but deferred the decision even after the two all-party meetings and finalisation of nine points for the complaint in a compliance with a request made by the Congress leaders that the State should go slow and try for a negotiated settlement instead. However, it had to opt for the complaint, considering the "risks'' the State would run otherwise, according to the Major Irrigation Minister, K. Srihari.

The petition lodged by Andhra Pradesh contained the same nine points with some alterations and refurbishmments. The major demands are periodic and timely release of waters from projects, say Alamatti, permission for construction of a parallel canal from Thungabhadra Dam to cover up the loss suffered by the State from that dam due to siltation, giving Andhra Pradesh a `right'' over surplus waters in place of "liberty'' due to which it is not able to obtain clearances for the new projects, and bringing Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme as also the Riachur (Left) canal of TB dam under the purview of the Thungabhadra Board.

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