AP Oppn flays Tribunal ruling on Krishna river water

“This will turn AP,known as the rice bowl,into a desert,” Yerran Naidu charged and added ruling Congress owed an explanation to the people on its “failure” to protect the state’s rights.

CPI State Secretary K Narayana said Karnataka benefited immensely from the Tribunal¿s award. “This will have a telling impact on agriculture in AP”.

The state government has not yet reacted to the Tribunals’ verdict.

With the Tribunal permitting Karnataka to raise the level of Almatti dam to 524.5 meters from 519 m,irrigation during Kharif in Andhra Pradesh under Nagarjuna Sagar will be largely affected,an irrigation expert said.

It will also leave an adverse impact on Srisailam Left Branch Canal and other projects like Veligonda taken up under the ambitious Jalayagnam programme,according to the expert.

“We (AP) have apparently failed to present our case effectively before the Tribunal while Karnataka’s arguments looked firm,” a retired irrigation official and expert on the subject G Prabhakar felt.

Talking to a news agency this afternoon,Prabhakar said AP would be losing right over more than 130 tmc ft of surplus water because of the Tribunal’s award though it got an additional 190 tmc ft of water as firm allocation as compared to the past.

Being a lower riparian state,AP was hitherto had the right over 320 tmc ft of surplus water but now the Tribunal allocated only 190 tmc ft as the state’s share in surplus water while Karnataka and Maharashtra were given 177 tmc ft and 81 tmc ft respectively.

“The biggest factor detrimental to AP’s interest is the permission given to Karnataka for raising the height of Almatti dam to 524.5 m. This will have a serious adverse impact on our Kharif cropping under the Nagarjuna Sagar project,” Prabhakar said.

More than 13.5 lakh acres in six districts are irrigated under the Nagarjuna Sagar project in the state.

Also,the reduction in availability of surplus water to the state would affect irrigation projects like SLBC,Galeru-Nagari,Handri-Neeva,Kalwakurthy (lift),Nettempadu and Veligonda in Telangana,Rayalaseema and Andhra regions,Prabhakar said.

All these projects that require at least 300 tmc ft of water were designed keep the availability of surplus water in view. Now that the state’s share in surplus water has been drastically cut,these projects will be in a limbo,he said.

“Overall,the Tribunal’s award is a major loss to AP,” Prabhakar summed up.