Both BRS and Congress are against the transfer of control to the KRMB but have been fighting with each other over who surrendered the rights.
Krishna river near Srisailam dam. (Wikimedia)
A slug-fest has been going on in the Telangana Assembly over who was responsible for the transfer of control of the projects on the Krishna river, mainly the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP), to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).
It was the BRS which had first raised concern over the Telangana officials signing the minutes at the recent KRMB meetings held in Delhi and Hyderabad, consenting to transfer the projects to the river management board.
The Congress then hit back at the BRS saying that it had never transferred the control to the KRMB. It moved a resolution in the Assembly asserting that it was against the transfer of the projects.
The BRS claimed its victory as it was the first to wake up the Congress on its faux paus which the latter denied vehemently.
Both parties are against the transfer of control to the KRMB but have been fighting with each other over who had surrendered the right on the project to the KRMB to earn brownie points from farmers.
After the division of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh in 2014, both the successor states entered into an agreement to share 811 tmcft of water in the Krishna, in the ratio of 34:66 (TS:AP)
The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -I (popularly known as Bachawat Tribunal) in its award in 1976, had allocated 811 tmcft of water for the undivided AP.
The agreement reached on 18-19 June, 2015 after the bifurcation of the state in 2014 was that the reorganised state of AP would have 512.04 tmcft and the newly created Telangana state, 298.96 tmcft of the total allocation.
It was also decided that this ratio would be applicable in deficit or surplus scenarios.
This was an ad hoc agreement for the water year 2015-16, pending finalisation of the allocation of waters by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -II (Brijesh Kumar Tribunal).
The agreement was renewed every year as there was a delay in the tribunal finalising the allocation of 811 tmcft of water between the two states.
It was also agreed in the meeting held in the same meeting in 2015 that a Committee comprising Engineers-in-Chief of both the states and the member secretary of KRMB would consider the indents raised by the project authorities keeping in view of the overall availability of water and requirements raised by the project authorities concerned.
The agreement was renewed year after year till 2021-22 and later it was agreed that the agreement would be in force till the KWDT-II finalised the sharing of waters between the two states.
After the gazette notification by Jal Shakti for handing over the projects on the Krishna River to the KRMB in July, 2021, the Telangana government wrote to the KRMB to follow an ad hoc water sharing in the ratio of 50:50 between the two states from 2021-22 till finalisation of Brijesh Kumar Tribunal award.
Telangana contended that based on parameters including catchment, cultivable, drought-prone areas and population, it was entitled to a 70.8 percent share leaving 29.2 percent to AP.
By then Telangana had already put forth the demand for 771 tmcft allocation of water before the KWDT-II.
The state also pointed out that both the tribunals had emphasised that priority be given to in-basin areas.
The state expressed apprehension that AP has a “large unapproved and unauthorised” diversion capability of 4.7 tmcft per day from Srisailam and over 300 tmcft of storage in Pennar and other basins, where it can store such “diverted” water from Krishna.
Telangana has only 0.28 tmcft per day, that too through lifting, the state said.
The KRMB is an autonomous body established as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Jal Shakti to manage and regulate the waters in Krishna Basin in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
It has jurisdiction and performs the functions as per the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 85 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, such as administration, operation, maintenance and regulation.
According to the Act, section 86, para 2, the Governments of the successor States at all times provide the necessary funds to the Board to meet all expenses (including the salaries and allowances of the staff) required for the discharge of its functions and such amounts shall be apportioned between the States concerned in such proportion as the Central Government may, having regard to the benefits to each of the said States, specify.
The previous BRS government settled for 299 tmcft at a time when it could have claimed a share of up to 70 percent of the total 811 tmcft (574 tmcft) since that much of the catchment area of the river lies in Telangana.
They did not argue even for a 50 percent share in the beginning.
They had agreed to transfer the control of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project and Srisailam to the KRMB, pending the finalisation of the water release of the protocols.
It showed that the previous BRS government had said it had no objection to handing over the projects to the KRMB.
If the control on Nagarjuna Sagar goes to the KRMB, the state would be at the receiving end.
On 1 December, a day after polling for the Assembly elections, Irrigation Principal Secretary Smitha Sabharwal wrote to the centre that handing over the project to KRMB was being delayed for want of finalisation of water release protocols.
The Congress argues that the principal secretary had consented to handing over the projects.
The allocation of 299 tmcft and constitution of the KRMB was done in accordance with the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 which was drafted by the UPA-II led by the Congress and therefore it should take the blame.
The BRS at that time had not raised any objection on the poor allocation, with a fear that the creation of Telangana state might take a backseat.
Since 2015, at every stage, the BRS had fought for a 50 percent share in Krishna Waters and in 2021, it pitched for a 70 percent share.
It was the Congress which had given in writing to the centre that it would transfer the control of the projects to the KRMB.
The BRS cited the minutes of the KRMB meeting held in Delhi on 27 January and on 1 February which showed that the Congress government had given in writing that it would hand over the project to the KRMB.
In 1969, the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal – 1 (Bachawat Tribunal) was set up to fresh allocations for the riparian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP.
In its award in 1976, the tribunal allowed 811 tmcft of water to Andhra Pradesh.
Later the erstwhile AP allocated the water in the ratio of 512:299 tmcft between Andhra and Telangana regions.
The distribution was based on ayacut developed since the Act stipulated that once the command area was developed, it would get the right to share in waters.
Telangana cried foul, saying that Andhra took away most of the water on the pretext that the command area (CA) had already been developed, denying its rightful share.
In fact, this perceived injustice was one of the cornerstones of the Telangana movement.
The AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 also did not make any allotment of water to the successor states as they agreed to let the arrangement continue till the petition already filed by Telangana in KWDT-II for fresh allocation of water between the two states, was finalised.
As the tribunal was taking too long, the state government moved the Supreme Court in 2015 with a request for direction to the centre to refer the issue to the tribunal.
When Telangana made a representation to refer its demand to the Tribunal or set up a new tribunal, the centre in 2020 had asked the state to withdraw its petition in the Supreme Court.
The state then withdrew the petition in 2021, but the centre took its own time. In October last year, ahead of the Assembly elections to Telangana, the centre referred the fresh terms of reference to the KWDT-II for deciding which state should get how much water in accordance with Section 5(1) of the Interstate River Water Disputes Act (ISRWDA), 1956.
The BRS now demands that the state government should take the initiative to bring pressure on the centre to ensure that the KWDT-II finalise the allocation by setting a deadline of six months.
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