Krishna Tribunal report exrayed

HUBLI, 1^st January 2011

When the politicians as a tribe had failed the state, a quasi judicial body like the River Water Disputes Tribunal has come as a saviour in safeguarding the interest of Karnataka in the Krishna waters.

This in nutshell sums up the net impact of the verdict given by the IInd Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) headed by Mr. Justice Brajesh Kumar in Thursday.

A cumulative effect of the uniformly inept policies pursued by the successive governments of all political hues including the one which is in power had pushed Karnataka to the end of tether on the utilisation of waters of the Krishna River.

Everything appeared to be lost. It had failed to utilise the water allocated by the first KWDT even ten years after the expiry of the deadline fixed to the extent of onethird of the allocated share of 734 tmcft. If the new tribunal were to take the utilisation as the basis for the fresh allocation of water, Karnataka faced the prospects of losing around 250 tmcft and whatever extra that might accrue in the later allocation of the surplus water, would have utmost made up the loss suffered and Karnataka would not have got a drop of water extra as a result of which it would have been the end of the road for the state as for as the irrigation development is concerned.

If this were not to happen, there was Andhra Pradesh, which had laid its claims for the unutilized water. And in anticipation of the same, it had gone ahead with its plans to create permanent infrastructure created with a huge investment. Here was Andhra Pradesh which was quick to utilise its share of water and had taken initiative to plan for the use of the additional water. And in contrast was the case of Karnataka, which had miserably failed to utilise the allocation even today, The Andhras case that it need not be penalized for initiative would have been quite irresistible.

Karnataka’s plans to raise the raise the height of the biggest dam across Krishna in Karnataka at Alamatti had been stymied by the Supreme Court. It was self inflicted problem that Karnataka had invited, thanks to two of the Karnataka men in power, Mr. H D Devegowda, as the Prime Minister of the United Front Government. In 1996-97 and Mr. J H Patel, the Janata Dal turned Janata Dal (U) government of Karnataka during the period.

In their eagerness to humour Mr. Chandrababu Naidu the Telugu Desham Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, they had landed Karnataka in a soup. Mr. Naidu raised a hue and cry over the Karnataka’s move to raise the height of the Alamatti dam to 534 meters. Mr. Gowda, then the Prime Minister of the UF government, of which Telugu Desham was an important component, referred the matter to the steering committee of the UF, instead of allowing the government to handle the same. The steering committee constituted a four member panel, which in turn constituted an expert committee. The expert committee was given a red carpet treatment when it visited Karnataka. The plea made by Mr. H K Patil for boycotting the committee since its interest would be detrimental to the interest of Karnataka fell on deaf ears. That the height of the dam should be pegged at 519 meters, was the recommendation of the expert committee. With the fall of the Devegowda government, no followup action was taken. But it came in handy when Supreme Court was hearing the case. The apex court adopted the recommendation to bar Karnataka from raising the height of the dam beyond 519 meters.

If this ban on the height were to be continued by the IInd KWDT, it would have been end of the road of irrigation development in Northern Karnataka since the ban would come in the way of storing the surplus water of Krishna as and when allocated. Karnataka would have had no place to store water. But the IInd KWDT has mercifully cleared Karnataka’s case for raising the height of the dam to 524 tmcft, providing Karnataka with the scope for storing the surplus water.

The Krishna basin, spanning over more than thirteen districts and bulk of the drought prone areas in Northern Karnataka, is the biggest basin in Karnataka, much more than Cauvery. The basin area has the potentials to turn Karnataka into a food granary with the exploitation of the irrigation potentials of Krishna. But this has not happened as a sequel to the totally inept and slipshod handling of the issue by the successive state governments in Karnataka Nobody has been an exception to this, be it the Congress governments, the Janata Dal/Janata Dal U or the BJP/JDS coalition or the present BJP governments. Barring very few individual leaders in the government, like the former Chief Ministers, late Nijalingappa, Mr. Devegowda, and the former Ministers like late H M Channabasappa. Late H N Nanjegowda and H K Patil, all former Ministers, none who handled the portfolio had any semblance of understanding of the irrigation and of harnessing of the potentials of the river waters. As a consequence Karnataka had missed the bus completely and was condemned to suffer and pay a heavy price for the follies of the rulers.

It is in this context that verdict of the IInd KWDT has brought cheers on the face of the farmers in Karnataka. The Tribunal not only protected the allocation Karnataka had got despite its failure to utilise fully. It has not countenanced Andhra Pradesh’s claims for use of the unutilized waters and allocated more water to Karnataka from the surplus arising after the previous allocation. This has resulted in Karnataka getting an overall allocation of 911 tmcft. The aspirations of the Karnataka farmers get a new lease of life. .

Of all the people, it is the tribe of politicians of all hues, who are extremely happy over the decision on the final allocation of share of Krishna waters by the Second Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal headed by Mr. Justice Brajesh Kumar.

It is not because the Tribunal has protected the share allotted by the previous Tribunal/ or has allowed Karnataka to raise the height of the Alamatti dam, the main dam across Krishna in Karnataka to 524 meters .But the Tribunal has literally baled them out of a veritable predicament in the event of any adverse decision being handed down.

The people indeed are happy. But the happiness over the increased allocation made and the removal of the ban on the height of the dam are nothing more than notional. To use a Kannada adage it is something like the treasure visible in mirror. You can see but you can’t touch.

For the key factor is the expeditious utilisation of the allocated water. It is here that Karnataka has been faltering. It has poor track record of the execution of the projects. The politicians of Karnataka have shown that they lack vision and commitment and are not averse to politicize the development issues at the drop of the hat. After nearly four decades of the award being made by the Tribunal, the Karnataka has been able to impound around 500 tmcft. But not all the water available in the dam has been able to reach the farmers fields even to this day.

In this context, the task of utilising a total of 400 tmcft as a consequence of the judgment of the IInd Tribunal is a tall order by any standard. Very few doubt whether it will be able to utilise the water within the forty years deadline fixed by the Second Tribunal. There is definitely a many a slip between cup and lip

Eom 14.40 hrs. 01,01.11