In a swift action in the issue of referring the Section-3 request on the Krishna water share by Telangana, the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) published a gazette notification on Friday night (October 6) specifying the terms of reference for adjudication of the matter by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II, following the Union Cabinet approval on October 4.
Making a clear mention in the gazette that Telangana has sought to refer its request over water share in the Krishna Basin by confining the scope of reference between the jurisdictional limits of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, MoJS Joint Secretary Anand Mohan said the Central Government is satisfied that further reference to KWDT-II in the matter is necessary under Section 12 of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.
“In pursuance of the provisions contained in Section 3, Sub-Section (1) of Section 5 and Section 12 of the said ISRWD Act, the Central Government hereby refers the following further terms of reference to the Tribunal for adjudication”, the gazette notification said.
The terms of reference include – for the purposes of Clauses (a) and (b) under Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 in the existing terms of reference, “project-wise” means existing, on-going and contemplated projects of both the States of Telangana and AP and shall distribute/allocate the Krishna River waters between Telangana and AP from the undivided share of erstwhile AP.
The total undivided share of the erstwhile AP that may be considered for the purpose of this distribution/allocation is – “811 tmc ft of overall allocation (en bloc) made by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I to the erstwhile AP and any additional allocation over and above it made by KWDT-II to the erstwhile AP, and share of water allocated to erstwhile AP by the Godavari Water
Disputes Tribunal, which is made available by transfer of water from Godavari to Krishna through Polavaram Project and any further transfer from Godavari to Krishna from Polavaram project, if proposed”.
“As per the terms of reference, Telangana can now claim rights over 45 tmc ft water in lieu of Godavari water diversion to Krishna Delta by AP through Polavaram/Pattiseema, and more if diversion is made, for availing the water for in-basin needs above Nagarjunasagar or in Telangana as per the GWDT Award. It could be used as dependable water for Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, once adjudicated”, a senior engineer of the Irrigation Department said.
