Punjab refuses to release more water; Haryana warns of crisis in 8 districts.
The decades-old water-sharing dispute between Punjab and Haryana has flared up once again with Punjab’s AAP-led Bhagwant Mann government moving an Assembly resolution on Monday vowing “not to spare even a single drop of water” from its share for neighbouring Haryana. Punjab’s water resources minister, Barinder Kumar Goyal, even accused the BJP of trying to take away the rights of the state through its governments in Haryana and at the Centre, and the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). The resolution said in the last three years, about 60 per cent of fields in Punjab have been getting canal water, which was why it no longer had any spare water to give any other state.
Mr Mann had convened an all-party meeting Friday, where all parties in the state expressed solidarity. BJP politicians, however, made a point that Haryana had received additional water in the past, suggesting the current crisis was avoidable.
In a parallel move, Haryana also held an all-party meeting, with unanimous backing for its position.
Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini claimed Punjab had agreed to the extra release. Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene, criticising the AAP government in Punjab. He claimed the state’s current rulers were “playing with fire” by openly promising to release water to Haryana and Rajasthan. With Punjab sticking to its position, eight Haryana districts may face the worst water crisis. A Haryana government report says Sirsa, Hisar, Fatehabad, Jind, Kithal, Kurukshetra, Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani districts are getting just 764.80 crore litres of water, against the requirement of 4,931.90 crore litres for drinking purposes.
The fresh stand-off between the two states on water-sharing began after the Centre recently directed Punjab to release an additional 4,500 cusecs a day to Haryana from BBMB reservoirs for eight days. Punjab had boycotted the BBMB meeting Saturday, protesting against the short notice and asserting it will not engage further until the Assembly session concludes. The row comes ahead of the annual BBMB water allocation cycle beginning May 21. The dispute escalated after Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan backed Haryana’s demand over Punjab’s objections. On April 30, officials of both states attended a BBMB meeting where the board ordered the release of 8,500 cusecs to Haryana. Conceived as early as the 1910s, the Bhakra-Nangal project is among the earliest post-Independence river valley projects, one that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru himself took a personal interest in. It comprises two separate but complementary dams on the River Sutlej -- the Bhakra dam in Himachal, and the Nangal dam, some 10 km downstream, in Punjab. Before the state was split into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, the Bhakra-Nangal project was under the Punjab government’s direct control. The Bhakra Management Board was established in 1966 to administer the project in the best interests of all three states. This board was renamed BBMP in 1976 and given the additional task of managing projects on the River Beas, namely the Beas-Sutlej Link Project (Pandoh dam) and Pong dam, both in Himachal. The BBMP today plays a central role in the distribution of water between Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. At a time when India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty to target Pakistan over the Pahalgam massacre, it is high time for all stakeholders in India to join hands and sort out their differences for proper water-sharing and stop politicking and playing to the gallery.
