The AK Bajaj Committee that was formed by the Centre to resolve the Krishna river water dispute between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, has refused to pronounce a verdict for now.
According to reports, the committee has instead, written to the Centre, seeking a clarification on its role in deciding the water sharing.
The Times of India quotes the letter as saying, “During the discussions, the AP government has taken a stand that the allocation of water comes under the Water Disputes Tribunal constituted as per the Inter-State Water Disputes Act. In case the committee does decide to address the issue, then it should also keep in view the diversions through various lift schemes from Godavari by the Telangana government which is the upper riparian state...the provision of Godavari water diversion to Krishna under KWDT-I is a standalone onetime provision whilst Godavari water diversion by Telangana under GWDT is a totally different issue."
The two states have been warring over the water ever since their bifurcation in 2014.
There are two major dams on the Krishna River that lie on the Telangana-Andhra border - the Srisailam dam which is upstream and the Nagarjuna Sagar dam which is downstream.
In September last year, a meeting was held between Union Minister Uma Bharti, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao along with irrigation ministers and top officials from both the states.
After the meeting, it was also agreed that a joint committee, comprising of engineers from the two states and from the Central Water Commission (CWC), will be constituted to study availability of water in the river basin.
A Bajaj Committee was formed, which was headed by former chairman of the CWC, AK Bajaj.
After holding meetings with officials of the two states in February, and touring the area, the Committee refused to intervene in the issue.
The Committee had initially proposed to resolve the issue easily, but reportedly said that it was not easy, as both governments held 'widely divergent' views.
Members of the Committee headed back to Delhi, saying that they would inform the Centre of the issues raised, and return next month.