Huge win for Telangana in Krishna river battle with AP

Hyderabad: In a huge victory for Telangana against Andhra Pradesh over the sharing of the Krishna river water, the Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal-II on Thursday said it was inclined to take up the issue of project-wise allocation of water under the new terms of reference issued by the Centre in 2023, a stand that Telangana had fought hard for in face of stiff opposition from AP. Telangana irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who was in New Delhi supervising Telangana’s arguments before the Tribunal, welcomed the decision and said: “The decision will pave the way for proper justice to be delivered to Telangana.” He said that under the additional terms of reference given by the Centre, allocation of River Krishna waters would include the earlier en bloc allocation of 811 thousand million cubic feet done by the Bachawat tribunal, thus enabling Telangana its rightful share of the river’s waters.” He said as per the provisions of Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, KWDT-II was to make project-wise specific allocations if they were not made by a tribunal set up as per the Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956. Uttam Kumar Reddy said after Telangana’s formation, then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had entered into an agreement with AP and agreed for 299 tmc ft of water for Telangana and 512 tmc ft for AP out of the 811 tmc ft of Krishna waters awarded by Bachawat tribunal to the then combined AP state. New terms of reference to KWDT-II from Centre in October 2023 For the purpose of some specific clauses in the existing TOR, project-wise means existing, on-going and contemplated projects of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh; Tribunal shall distribute/allocate the Krishna waters to Telangana and residuary AP from the undivided share of erstwhile state of AP.