FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, Dec. 24.
The Krishna Waters Tribunal set up by the Union Ministry of Irrigation and Power under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice R.S. Bachawat submitted its report to day.
The Ministry is expected to study the implications of the findings in the next two or three days and make the report public.
The tribunal is stated to have determined 75 per cent of the dependable flow of the Krishna at 2,060 tmc ft. It has allocated 1,693.36 tmc ft. for the protected uses in all the three States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The remaining quantity has been divided as follows: Maharashtra 125.35 tmc ft; Karnataka 190.45 tmc ft; and Andhra Pradesh 50.84 tmc ft, making up a total of 366.64 tmc ft.
Out of the dependable flow of 2,060 tmc ft., the share of each State as stipulated by the tribunal will be: Maharashtra 565 tmc ft., Karnataka 695 tmc ft. and Andhra Pradesh 800 tmc ft. Another important finding of the tribunal is that the utilisation of waters of Karnataka and Maharashtra will be restricted to users of 695 tmc ft. and 565 tmc ft respectively in all the years. Andhra Pradesh has been permitted to use the residuary waters irrespective of the quantum, but it will not acquire any right to the excess water so used over and above 800 tmc ft.
The tribunal’s award is to be reviewed in 2000 A.D. A distinct gain for Andhra Pradesh is stated to be the clearance by the tribunal of the Jurala project in Telengana for 17.84 tmc ft. for irrigating lands in Gadwal, Alampur and Mahaboobnagar districts.
Our Hyderabad Correspondent reports:
One result of the award is that the Andhra Pradesh Government would be able to go ahead with the erection of crest gates at Nagarjunasagar, which was kept in abeyance because of an objection raised by the Karnataka Government and also plan for a minor irrigation project over the Krishna river in Mahaboobnagar district which was also kept pending because of the river waters dispute.
