Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court accusing neighbour Telangana of depriving its people of their legitimate share of Krishna water for drinking and irrigation.
Andhra Pradesh, represented by advocate Mahfooz A. Nazki, in a petition drawn by advocate G. Umapathy and settled by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, said Telangana was refusing to follow decisions taken on river water management in the Apex Council constituted under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014. It has also ignored the directions of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) constituted under the 2014 Act and directions of the Central government.
“Fundamental rights, including right to life of its citizens, are being seriously impaired and infringed on account of unconstitutional, illegal and unjust acts on part of Telangana and its officials, resulting in the citizens of Andhra Pradesh being deprived of their legitimate share of water for drinking and irrigation purposes,” the petition said.
The focus of the petition is a Telangana government order of June 28, 2021 notifying that “to tap more hydel generation in the State, the government has taken a decision to generate hydel power up to 100% installed capacity.” The order directed the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited (TSGENCO) to hence “generate the hydel power up to 100% installed capacity in the State.”
Andhra Pradesh said the notification was issued only days after the Ministry of Jal Shakti in its June 17 communication to the Director (Hydel), TSGENCO, had urged the latter “to stop further release of water immediately through Srisailam Left Power House and follow the water release orders issued by the KRMB, except in case of extreme grid urgency.”
“The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in this regard has written to the Prime Minister on July 1 and July 7, seeking his urgent intervention in view of serious threat to right to life of tens of millions of citizens of Andhra Pradesh,” the petition noted.
The petition also blamed the Centre for not notifying the exact jurisdiction of the KRMB. “This is resulting in illegal acts on part of Telangana and its authorities, creating serious constitutional issues,” the petition pointed out.
