VIJAYAWADA: Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Monday said the government would move the Supreme Court against Karnataka and Maharashtra for obstructing the flow of Krishna waters to Andhra Pradesh. The state government is in consultation with legal experts on whether to file a Special Leave Petition or a Public Interest Litigation against the upstream states to get its rightful share of water.
Despite the riparian states having a total of 275 tmc ft of water in their reservoirs, thanks to the rains in the last few months, AP was not given a single drop of water, the Minister told reporters at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi near here.He alleged that Karnataka and Maharashtra were stocking water and not releasing any to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh even for drinking purpose.
Asserting that the matter had already been taken to the notice of Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, he said the government would now consider legal options to draw Krishna water to the state at the earliest. “Though there is 471 mm rainfall in Karnataka and 655 mm in Maharashtra, both the states stored the water in dams without sharing it with downstream states. Right now we are deciding what action to take legally,” he said.