Plea To Raise Almatti Height Turned Down

The Supreme Court yesterday observed that there was no need at present to consider the question of increasing the height of the Almatti dam on the Krishna river in Karnataka in view of the statement of the Karnataka engineer that the installation of the gates of 15 metre height would be started only in October next year and completed in March 1999.

The dispute over sharing of the river water between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, with Maharashtra as a third but dormant party, came up before a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice J S Verma with several applications from both sides.

 

While urging both parties to come to an amicable solution, the court adjourned the hearing till November 4 for framing issues.

The court dismissed as withdrawn an application by Andhra Pradesh seeking rejection of a suit by Karnataka which sought a restraint on it from executing new projects till the river valley authority framed by the tribunal was operational.

The court also granted the decree as prayed for by Andhra Pradesh and agreed to by the two other states that the two reports made by the Inter-State Water Disputes Ttribunal were binding on all parties.

In the suits before the court, the Karnataka government has sought a declaration that surplus Krishna water should be shared in accordance with the scheme formulated by the tribunal, known as the Bachawat award.

Karnataka, meanwhile sought an injunction against the Andhra Pradesh using surplus water by creating a permanent infrastructure under several projects, especially the Telugu Ganga project.

In another application, the Andhra Pradesh government has sought a declaration and injunction that Karnataka was not entitled to increase the height of the Almatti dam beyond 519 metres.

Andhra Pradesh argues that if Karnataka is permitted to raise the height up to 524 metres as proposed, it would enable Karnataka to utilise about 442 tmc of water instead of 155 tmc permitted by the Bachawat award.