Taking a final decision on dividing the surplus water of the Krishna river, the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal on Thursday allocated the maximum share of water to Andhra Pradesh while also enhancing the share of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The Centre will set up the Krishna Water Implemen-tation Board after three months for implementation of the award.
Andhra Pradesh will now get 1,001 TMC, Karnataka 911 TMC and Maharashtra 666 TMC of water from the river. The earlier allocation was 811 TMC for Andhra Pradesh, 734 TMC for Karnataka and 585 TMC for Maharashtra. The tribunal, headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar, also allowed more water to be stored in the Almatti Dam in Karnataka. With this order, 524 metres of the dam height could be used to store Krishna water from its earlier 519 metres.
“The states who want to file a review or seek an explanation on the award can do so within the next three months,” Justice Kumar told agencies. It is understood that the award will be valid till May 31, 2050 and can be reviewed or revised by a competent authority or a tribunal later. But such review or revision shall not, as far as possible, disturb any utilisation that may have been undertaken by any state within the limits of allocation made to it.
Since the tribunal has the force and decree of the Supreme Court, no appeal against the award can be filed in any other court except with the tribunal itself. Reacting to the tribunal’s decision, Maharashtra water resources minister Ramrajya Nimbalkar told reporters, “No decision can be 100 per cent because no decision can give you 100 per cent of what you want.” Asked if he was unhappy as the maximum water would go to Andhra Pradesh, he said, “Some water has to be given to lower riparian states. We cannot possibly say 100 per cent water should be given to one state, even though we expected more. Certain things may be against us but, overall, we are happy.”
Mr Nimbalkar said issues like water storage at the end of the monsoon would be addressed through the committee that has been formed under the tribunal. Asked whether the tribunal’s decision would be contested by the Maharashtra government, Mr Nimbalkar replied in the negative and said, “This cannot be challenged. Nobody can challenge this decision. There is no Supreme Court to this.”
While Karnataka hailed the award as a vindication of its stand on the Almatti Dam, Maharashtra said it was happy that it was getting 100 TMC feet more.
The Andhra Pradesh government gave a mixed response, saying it was “partly beneficial and partly detrimental”. The state’s Opposition slammed the government, accusing it of failing to protect Andhra Pradesh’s interests.
Irrigation experts and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh said the award came as a shock as the state will have to be at the mercy of upper riparian state Karnataka. They said the award was a “big blow” as Andhra Pradesh has lost total right over utilisation of surplus water.
The award also directed all three states to contribute 3.30 TMC feet of water each to the city of Chennai for drinking water supply between July and October and 1.70 TMC feet in four equal instalments between January and April.