AP attempting to misappropriate Godavari water: Telangana in SC

New Delhi: Sparks flew in Supreme Court on Monday as Telangana opposed Andhra Pradesh's Polavaram-Nallamala Sagar Project (PNSP) with A Revanth Reddy-led govt accusing AP of attempting to misappropriate its share of Godavari water and N Chandrababu Naidu-led govt charging Telangana of attempting to stall farmer-friendly projects even after taking erstwhile capital city Hyderabad.Telangana, carved out of AP in 2014, through senior advocate A M Singhvi repeatedly pleaded with a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi for a stay on tendering process for preparation of the detailed project report for PNSP alleging that AP govt has decided to proceed despite the Union govt forming a high powered committee led by chairman of Central Water Commission, which had asked AP not to go ahead with it.
The bench asked whether a writ petition by a state was maintainable when the core issue pertained to dispute over implementation of allocation of Godavari river water share between the two states, which also involved Karnataka and Maharashtra. It asked Singhvi to take instruction within a week whether Telangana would prefer filing a suit under Article 131 of the Constitution making all three states – AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra – parties.AP through senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Jaideep Gupta and Balbir Singh told the court that the project had Telangana's consent at the time of reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh. Rohatgi said the tender is for preparation of DPR for the irrigation project, which is meant to use only the excess flood water flowing through AP, which is the lower riparian state.Singhvi said there was no means to measure excess flood water and alleged that it was a guise to misappropriate around 200 tmc of water allocated to Telangana, which he said is in the process of building various barrages to utilise its share of 968 tmc water. "It is a huge emotive issue in Telangana as commissioning of the irrigation project would cut the state's share of Godavari water," he said.Gupta said, "What is an emotive issue? Can one state stop an irrigation project in another state which is a lower riparian one? Telangana has already taken Hyderabad." Rohatgi said the project is to take water to drought prone areas and the DPR preparation is being pursued after approval of a pre-feasibility report. "It will not affect Telangana's share of water. It is my state. How is Telangana concerned with what is being done in AP," he asked.The CJI-led bench said in an inter-state river water sharing issue, no state can claim that other riparian states would not be concerned with what is being done in its jurisdiction. However, it asked Telangana to decide whether it should file a suit on the issue or will be satisfied if the SC asked the high-powered committee to take a call on the project expeditiously. It posted further hearing to Jan 12.