Rayalaseema delegation meets President Pranab Mukherjee over Krishna award

KADAPA: A delegation of elected representatives, including a Minister, from Rayalaseema met President Pranab Mukherjee in Hyderabad and sought his intervention in scrapping the award of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal on the Krishna river waters dispute.

The delegation, which also had representatives from social groups, claimed the final award, given last month, was against the interests of Andhra Pradesh.

The 11-member team consisted of Endowments Minister C Ramachandraiah (Congress), Public Accounts Committee Chairman and MLA K E Krishna Murthy (TDP) and MLC Satish Reddy (TDP) among others, and it was led by Rayalaseema Development and Rights Forum (RDRF). The meeting took place yesterday.

The award will sound knell for the drought affected Rayalaseema districts like Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur and Chittoor and Telangan districts of Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda and Prakasham, RDRF Convener Chandrasekhar Reddy told PTI.

The tribunal has given its ruling without considering the water requirements of backward areas of Andhra Pradesh, he maintained.

The delegation submitted a memorandum requesting the President "to appoint a new tribunal to consider the basic water needs of the famine zone" in the State, Reddy said.

Ramachandraiah informed Mukherjee about the prevailing conditions in Rayalaseema and impact of the award on the region and also other drought-prone districts.

Reddy said the tribunal has adopted partisan attitude in allocation of Krishna river waters to adjoining States of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The tribunal, headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar, came out with its final award on end-November. It allotted four thousand million cubic (TMC) of water from Karnataka's share to Andhra Pradesh and at the same time allowed the former to increase the storage in Almatti dam to 524.256 meters.

In the interim award given on December 30, 2010 AP had got 1,001 TMC of water, Karnataka 911 TMC and Maharashtra 666 TMC from the river. Prior to that allocation was 811 TMC for AP, 734 TMC for Karnataka and 585 TMC for Maharashtra.

Political parties in Andhra Pradesh have opposed permission given to Karnataka to raise the height of Almatti dam, a move they claim will have an adverse impact on kharif crop in at least half a dozen districts.