Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Karnataka CM Yediyurappa decide to set up a High-Level Committee for better dam management to avoid flood situation. (Source: CMO Maharashtra)The Maharashtra and Karnataka governments have decided to jointly oppose Andhra Pradesh’s application seeking a relook at the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal’s order on water distribution among the states following the creation of Telangana.
The decision was taken on Tuesday at a meeting between Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s residence in Mumbai. The two states also decided to set up a high-level committee for better dam management to avoid floods. The decision comes in the wake of floods in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts in western Maharashtra.
According to an official statement issued by the Maharashtra government, the two states would jointly counter Andhra Pradesh’s petition to the water tribunal to rework the allocation of water share among four states to accommodate Telangana.
The Maharashtra and Karnataka government believe that “Telangana was created following bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, allocation of water should be from Andhra Pradesh’s share which was approved by the tribunal”.
In 2010, the tribunal had announced the share of water for each state with 800 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) for Andhra Pradesh, 700 TMC for Karnataka and 560 TMC for Maharashtra of the total 2,060 TMC of available water.
However, Andhra Pradesh argued that under Section 89 the state reorganisation Act, water distribution should be among all the four states.
At the meeting on Tuesday, the Karnataka CM also raised the issue of water discharge from Koyna dam to to avoid floods in villages along the state’s border with Maharashtra.
Inter-state flood management was dwelt at length during the meeting. The water regulation in Karnataka’s Almatti dam was critical to tackle the floods in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara.
Karnataka Deputy CM Dr C M Ashwathnarayan, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Maharaj and Power Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule were also present at the meeting.
Earlier, Yediyurappa also offered Ganesh puja at Fadnavis’s residence.
