Facing crisis, Punjab has no water to share: CM Mann to Niti Aayog

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday clarified that Punjab has no surplus water for any state, including Haryana, owing to the water crisis.

Taking part in the meeting of the 10th Governing Council of the Niti Aayog here, the Chief Minister said in the wake of the grim situation of water in the state, the Yamuna-Sutlej-Link (YSL) canal should be considered for construction instead of the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal. Mann said the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers are already in deficit, and water should be diverted from surplus to deficit basins.

He said Punjab has repeatedly requested to be included in negotiations for the allocation of Yamuna waters, as a pact for the Yamuna-Sutlej Link project was signed between the erstwhile Punjab and Uttar Pradesh on March 12, 1954, which entitled the erstwhile Punjab to two-thirds of the Yamuna waters.

The Chief Minister said this agreement did not specify any particular area to be irrigated by Yamuna waters, adding that before the reorganisation, the Yamuna, like the Ravi and the Beas, flowed through the erstwhile state of Punjab. However, he said while apportioning the river waters between Punjab and Haryana, the Yamuna waters were not considered, whereas the waters of the Ravi and the Beas were duly taken into account.

Citing a 1972 report by the Irrigation Commission, constituted by the Government of India, Mann said it states that Punjab (post-1966, after its reorganisation) falls within the Yamuna river basin. Therefore, the Chief Minister said that if Haryana has a claim over the waters of the Ravi and the Beas, Punjab should also have an equal claim on the Yamuna waters.

He said these requests have been ignored, adding that due to the non-construction of a storage structure on the Yamuna, water is going to waste. Therefore, Mann pleaded that Punjab’s claim should be considered during the revision of this agreement, and Punjab should be given its due rights to Yamuna waters.

Raising the issue of bias approach of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), the Chief Minister said the board was constituted under the provisions of the Punjab Reorganization Act of 1966 with the mandate to regulate the supply of water and power from the Bhakra, Nangal and Beas projects to the partner states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh.

Mann said that in the past, Punjab has been very liberal in sharing water with the partner states to meet their drinking water and other genuine requirements, as Punjab was relying upon its groundwater reserves to meet its demand for water, particularly for the paddy crop. He said that as a result, the groundwater level has depleted to a huge extent, so much so that 115 blocks out of 153 blocks of Punjab (76.10 per cent) are over-exploited, adding this percentage is the highest amongst all the states in the country.

The Chief Minister said now with the upgraded canal structure, Punjab itself is running short of its water requirement, and even its water share in the river waters is not sufficient to meet these requirements. Despite repeated requests, he said the BBMB did not take any action to advise the other partner states to regulate the release of water to Haryana, and as a result, it exhausted its share by March 30.

Mann said, considering the request of the government of Haryana on humanitarian grounds, the state decided to release 4,000 cusecs of water out of Punjab’s share to meet its drinking water requirement, though Haryana has only a genuine demand of 1,700 cusecs of water.

However, the Chief Minister said the BBMB ignored the interest of Punjab and decided to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana despite serious objections raised by Punjab. He said this is against the spirit and provisions of the law, as the BBMB has taken this decision of taking Punjab’s water against its consent, adding that the BBMB should be advised to restrain itself and act as per the provisions of law.

--IANS

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