Given India’s heavy reliance on agro-economy, water becomes a crucial
resource. As one can expect, every state lays its claim on the river waters.
Naturally, this leads to disputes among the states regarding each state’s rightful
share of the river water. In the 1960s, similar disputes arose among states for
both the Krishna and Godavari River waters.
In 1969, the central government appointed a tribunal under the leadership
of Supreme Court Justice Bachawat to resolve the Krishna River water allocation
dispute among the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. The
Bachawat Tribunal studied river water allocation methods, both nationally and
internationally. The commission particularly studied the American model as
well as the international models. In the end, Bachawat relied on international
law in developing a framework for resolving the river water dispute. This is
how Bachawat summarized his core view: “In determining what is equitable
utilisation where existing and contemplated uses are in conflict, while other
factors must be considered and weighed, the most important single factor is the
preferred position of the existing use; thus, an existing use which is beneficial
and not wasteful will ordinarily prevail over a contemplated use."
In other words, Bachawat determined that the existing projects on the
Krishna River should be given preference over the planned projects.
Bachawat then attempted to determine the quantity of available water
in the River Krishna. After reviewing the data available from 1894 to 1969,
the tribunal determined, based on 75% dependability, that the river has 2,060
TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water. After four years of further study,
Bachawat awarded 560 TMC of Krishna River water to Maharashtra, 700
TMC to Karnataka, and 800 TMC to Andhra Pradesh.
Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh have 26.81%, 43.74%,
and 29.45% of the Krishna River catchment areas in their states. Maharashtra
and Karnataka protested that the tribunal’s award was unfairly beneficial to
Andhra Pradesh despite it having a smaller share of the catchment area and
requested reconsideration.
Bachawat, while admitting that Andhra Pradesh received a larger
share of the river water when compared to its catchment area, ruled against
Maharashtra’s and Karnataka’s claims. He relied on the “protection of existing
uses” principle in his ruling. This principle guaranteed water to existing projects
such as the Nagarjun Sagar and Krishna Delta system.
Of the 800 TMC given to our state, Bachawat went ahead and
recommended how much of the Krishna River water each project in Andhra
Pradesh should get, details of which are provided in Table 10. |
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