NEW DELHI, Jan 1: International arbitration against Pakistan over Kishenganga project, the Cauvery water dispute, bringing states on board for National Water Policy and the decision of a Supreme Court appointed panel on Mullperiyar Dam kept Water Resources Ministry officials busy in 2012.
Hearing in the international court of arbitration in the Hague finally concluded last year with India rebutting Pakistan’s claim that the planned diversion of water for its 330 mw Kishenganga hydro project in Jammu and Kashmir violated a five-decade-old treaty.
Pakistan has claimed that the project would rob it of 15 per cent of its share of river waters. It also accused India of trying to divert the river in order to harm Pakistan’s Neelum-Jhelum hydro-electric project.
On May 17, 2010, Pakistan had moved for arbitration against India under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty 1960.
The court is likely to deliver its verdict later this month.
In May 2012, the Supreme Court-appointed empowered committee on Mullaperiyar Dam, on which Tamil Nadu and Kerala are at loggerheads, concluded that the 119-year-old structure was “safe” and asked the Kerala government to reconsider its proposal to build a new dam.
The five-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A S Anand also recommended that the water level at the dam, located in Kerala’s Idduki district and maintained by Tamil Nadu Public Works Department, can now be raised to 142 feet from the existing 136 feet.
In the report, the committee, which made numerous visits to the site and conducted a slew of tests and surveys, concluded that the Mullaperiyar Dam structure is safe on each of the “hydrologic, structural and seismic considerations”.
While Tamil Nadu has been maintaining that the dam was “absolutely safe” and the water level can be raised to 142 feet, Kerala has been vociferous in its demand for a new dam to be built near the existing structure.
The dispute over sharing of Cauvery waters led to the convening of the Cauvery River Authority chaired by the Prime Minister at the behest of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
While Tamil Nadu has accused Karnataka of not giving its share of water, the latter has maintained that it cannot sacrifice its requirements for the neighbouring state.
The meeting bore little fruit, but the Centre last month made it clear that it would notify the award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal – nearly six years after it was announced.
The notification is pending with the Law Ministry with a section maintaining that till cases are pending in the Supreme Court, the award cannot be published in the gazette.
The Water Resources Ministry’s self-imposed deadline to notify the award by December 31 passed last night.
As the year ended, the National Water Policy, 2012 was adopted by states last week with Centre assuring that it does not wish to encroach on their rights and that their concerns on an over-arching framework on water laws will be addressed.
Amid fear expressed by various state governments that the legal framework proposed in the policy was an infringement on their Constitutional rights, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in to allay such apprehensions.
“The central government does not wish to encroach, in any manner, upon the constitutionally guaranteed rights of states or to centralise water management… I would like to emphasise the need to see the proposed national legal framework in proper perspective,” Singh said in his opening remarks at the 6th National Water Resources Council meeting where the document was adopted.
Besides suggesting a legal framework for water laws, the policy also proposes Water Regulatory Authority in all the states to fix and regulate the water tariff system and charges. (PTI)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel