Water crisis likely in Telangana

It appears a serious water crisis is staring at Telangana as the Union Government is dilly dallying on the constitution of a new tribunal on Krishna river in recognition of the inter-state-river-water-dispute raised by Telangana government demanding fresh allocation of share to the new state. Telangana government raised this dispute immediately after its formation and when it was delayed, approached the Supreme Court. The Andhra Pradesh opposed this, apprehending the reduction of the water they are presently consuming, which Telangana contends to be in excess of the proportion and at the cost of Telangana's genuine share.

In this petition in Supreme Court, the Union and the Krishna riparian States - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra are added as respondents. Earlier in 2014, Telangana wrote to the Centre seeking the constitution of a new tribunal under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956 to adjudicate on the issue in a time-bound manner.

KWDT allocations

In 1969 the first Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT) was set up under the chairmanship of Justice R.S. Bachawat. This Tribunal had allocated 560 tmc ft of water to Maharashtra, 700 tmc ft to Karnataka and 800 tmc ft to undivided Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, at the time of the bifurcation of the Telugu State, it was decided that the 800 tmc ft of water would be shared on an ad hoc basis in a 66:34 ratio, with Telangana receiving 299 tmc ft and Andhra Pradesh 512 tmc ft. Telangana complained that this allocation was grossly inadequate, Telangana demanded fresh distribution between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in a 50:50 ratio.

Promise to set up a Tribunal

The Telangana government stated that Union Minister of Water Resources Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had promised that the Centre would consider the formation of a tribunal subject to Telangana withdrawing its "equitable apportionment" plea before the Supreme Court. Telangana was told that the Centre, after taking the necessary legal opinion, "positively" consider forming a tribunal under provisions of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

The legal opinion deals with the question whether the Centre can form a new tribunal on the issue, or whether existing tribunal [Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT II)], constituted in 2004 under the chairmanship of Justice Brijesh should be asked to adjudicate the 'equitable apportionment' of share to Telangana also.

On the assurance of the Union about the constitution of new tribunal, Telangana has withdrawn the petition from Supreme Court in October 2021, but even after lapse of five months there was no decision about the tribunal.

No clearance without assured water

The need of the tribunal is very significant because most of the new irrigation projects initiated by the Telangana and AP Governments should be cleared by the Central Water Commission, which cannot sanction because the proposed projects cannot show assured availability of water, because there was no specific allocation of share to Telangana. The new state is also demanding the project wise specific allocation from the Tribunal based on which the clearances could be obtained.

Instead of addressing this serious issue, the Centre came up with a Gazette Notification on July 15, 2021, directing Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states to hand over all the irrigation projects on Rivers Krishna and Godavari, including files, instruments, vehicles and staff to the Centre appointed Boards is against the federal structure of Indian Constitution, invasive of sovereignty of states, tramples upon the rights of the people in two states.

Unprecedented order of Union

This unprecedented take over order also says that the states have to pay Rs 200 crore each to maintain these projects and pay any amount whenever the Boards demand, the states were asked to procure the sanctions and approvals from the Central department within six months (which period is already ended, and now extended for another six months) and, if not, all those without sanction would be stopped even if thousands of crores of rupees were spent on them.

The Centre also knows that it is not possible for securing clearance from CWC to these new projects even in extended time limit, without allocation of assured water in Krishna river. Though Telangana opposed the Gazette Notification, the opposition parties feel that there was no further follow-up. Unfortunately, most of the political parties, MPs, and MLAs do not understand harmful effects of this notification. The media also was not discussing this issue at all. A section of media, some active members of civic bodies, non-resident Telangana body like Telangana Development Forum took up the issue and spreading awareness about the disaster that could result from implementation of Gazette Notification.

TDF's Movement

The Telangana Development Forum on March 5, 2022 has made a very significant statements called Hyderabad Declaration demanding immediate withdrawal of the Notification which aims at depriving the two Telugu states of their major irrigation projects on rivers Krishna and Godavari. Earlier TDF made a detailed representation to the President of India, Prime Minister and Jalasakthi Minister, besides appealing to the Chief Minister of Telangana and several MPs for withdrawal of this notification.

The TDF held conferences and press meets, round table conferences at Hyderabad and Nalgonda to build public opinion against the anti-federal features of the Gazette Notification over the Rivers. These meetings moved various Political Parties into thinking about the seriousness of the issue.

The impact of this movement is felt when the Union Ministry of Jalsakthi has decided to defer the implementation of the controversial Gazette Notification dated 15th July 2021, for six more months, which means the deadline now is July 2022, that is one year and fifteen days from its origin. The Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana get some more time to secure relevant approvals and sanctions from various departments at Centre.

It was almost impossible for the officials from central government to take over the project related records, and possession of assets along with records, equipment and vehicles under Krishna River Management Board and Godavari River Management Board. The reasons could be practical and political besides raising hostile public opinion. Telangana Government has raised objections against inclusion of some projects which were not common to both the Telugu states. Both the states questioned the Boards when offices came to take over, about the liabilities proposed to be thrown over to Telugu States while Centre has taken over entire assets and accounts of these projects.

The political parties expect that the Telangana Government to make it clear to Government of India that they are not handing over projects because it was against the Constitution and AP Reorganization Act 2014. They can even question how could Union take over projects by force. By writing a letter and resisting the takeover proposal the Telangana State can force Union Government to resort to legal measures which Telangana can strongly resist.

Jalsakthi's dilemma

Delhi media quoted the officials of Jalasakthi Ministry, saying "the issue involves multiple problems, as there are four states on Krishna river basin, Telangana, AP, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Telangana wants reallocation between only AP and Telangana. Secondly, Telangana is also opposing water issue to be settled under Section 89 of the AP Reorganization Act as it can only make project-wise allocation and cannot redistribute between the two states". Besides, the Centre is seeking legal opinion on question whether a new tribunal is required or the matter should be referred to the present Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II with new terms of reference.

Meanwhile, the Telangana and AP, which are at loggerheads, wrote letters to Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) over the new projects on the river. At present the KRMB has in-charge chairman Chandrasekhar Iyer, who is chairman of Godavari River Management Board. There is no permanent chairman for KRMB since a long time, because of which there is no focus on the issue. It appears that the Union decided to appoint permanent chairman soon.

The problem became very complex with several interlinked issues. Telangana spent 37 K crore of Rupees on various projects hoping allocation of assured waters and then the clearances. Some were completed and some more are nearing the completion, which are irrigating the ayacut of several lakhs of acres of agriculture fields. Immediate allocation of shares to Telangana and AP is the only solution, but, instead of doing it, the Centre issued a notification, threatening to stop all those irrigation projects if clearances are not obtained from CWC before July 2022, which is impossible.

(The author is Dean & Professor, School of Law, Mahindra University, Hyderabad, and former Central Information Commissioner) (The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of The Hans India)