The State of Andhra Pradesh has filed a petition before the Supreme Court to stop illegal usage of water from inter-state irrigation projects.
The plea filed through Advocate Mahfooz A Nazki stated that in the Srisailam Dam project, the reservoir’s quantity has seriously depleted on account of the use of water from its generation of power in Telangana State. The AP government requested Telangana to stop the same but it was not complied with. The actions of the Telangana government are unconstitutional and in violation of the right to life of the people of Andhra Pradesh, it was alleged.
It has also accused the Telangana government of not paying heed to directives of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to stop the power generation refusing to follow decisions taken in the Apex Council constituted under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014.
The Petition further submitted that State of Telangana Section 87, deals with “Jurisdiction of Board” and stipulates that the Board shall ordinarily exercise jurisdiction on “Godavari and Krishna rivers in regard to any of the projects over headworks.
It was stated that KRMB can exercise jurisdiction only in respect of such aspects as are notified by the Central Government but no such notification has been issued to date.
“More significantly, State of Telangana is clearly in violation of a binding Award, popularly known as “Bachwat Award” made on 31.05.1976 and express provisions of the 2014 Act, whereby State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,” the petition reads.
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The plea seeks the Apex Court’s intervention to hand over the operation and maintenance of such projects, including Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar, to the Andhra Pradesh Government.
The Petition urged the Top Court to issue directions to the Centre to immediately issue notification fixing the jurisdiction of KRMB. The plea further seeks instructions to the Centre to take over inter-state projects and deploy CISF personnel for the projects’ safety and security and all inter-state irrigation and power projects to be treated as national projects to avoid frequent disputes and legal litigations between the states on sharing of water and power.