Hyderabad, January 05: Opposition parties led by the TDP have decided to step up pressure on the state government to contest the Krishna Waters Dispute Tribunal’s award giving an advantageous position to Karnataka to the detriment of Andhra Pradesh.
As part of this effort, the opposition parties have decided to file a case in the Supreme Court. Also, an all-minus-Congress party meeting will be held to emphasise and publicise the damage done to AP’s interests. To begin with, a meeting of irrigation experts and politicians will be held at NTR Bhavan on Wednesday. This will be followed by meetings in all the 13 districts which are likely to be affected by the award.
TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu held discussions with leaders of other opposition parties at his residence this evening. Speaking to reporters later, he said the state government has 90 days’ time to file its objections to the tribunal’s judgement. Though it’s been four days since the judgment, there was no sign yet that the state government is taking the issue seriously, he alleged.
The earlier tribunal headed by Justice Bachawat had given its award in 1976 after taking 78 years’ average water flows in the Krishna as the benchmark to apportion the river waters among Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, but the Brijesh Kumar tribunal had taken only the 47 years’ average and, furthermore, based its award on 65 per cent dependability rather than 75 per cent. This effectively would mean that in the next 100 years, the state would not get water for 46 years, Naidu explained.
“If there is no water in upstream, Andhra Pradesh will not get its share. If there is excess, the upper riparian states will get to use the water. In both cases, AP is the loser,” Naidu said.
Reacting to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s announcement that he would fast in Delhi on Jan 11 to highlight AP’s case on the Krishna award, Naidu said: “His father was the main cause of this crisis. Rajasekhara Reddy accorded priority to Jalayagnam but did not focus on protecting our rights to the Krishna waters. And his government did not engage able advocates and failed to present its case effectively,’’ he said.
He pointed out that the Tribunal had itself remarked that Andhra Pradesh had not substantiated its arguments well.
CPI leader K Narayana alleged that the Congress has 32 MPs in Parliament but they could not lobby the Centre to protect the interests of AP farmers.
“Why this slavery to the high command,” Narayana asked.
–Agencies