Political parties condemn move to 'snatch' Punjab river waters (Lead)

Chandigarh, May 2 (IANS) On the initiative of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, all state political parties on Friday displayed a rare show of unity to condemn the move by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to “snatch river waters” and pledged to take every step to save the waters for flowing to Haryana and other states.

The leaders lauded the Chief Minister for giving 4,000 cusec water to Haryana daily to meet their drinking water needs on humanitarian grounds. They unanimously said Mann has taken a visionary decision to bring all the political parties on a single platform to save the waters of the state.

They said “it is high time the state government should explore all the legal, political and administrative measures to safeguard the interests of the state on the issue of river waters”.

All the political parties urged the Chief Minister to make every effort for protecting the rights of the state and its people over this issue of river waters, adding they assured fulsome support and cooperation to him for this noble cause.

Lauding the Chief Minister for supplying water to Haryana daily to overcome shortage, they said “it is a noble initiative but the manner in which the Haryana government and the BBMB have adopted a hostile, authoritarian and anti-Punjab stance to snatch our waters is highly condemnable”.

The political parties also condemned the high handedness of the Central government to weaken Punjab by removing the Member (Power) in the BBMB which was appointed by the state government.

They said Punjab has 60 per cent share in the BBMB for which it should be given veto power so that the other stakeholders are not able to conspire against it by joining hands.

They vowed that all political parties, rising above their affiliations, will fight for safeguarding the rights of the state and no stone will be left unturned for it.

Meanwhile, thanking all political parties for extending support to the state, the Chief Minister said solidarity by all political parties have given a big moral boost to him.

He said the government would convene a special session of the Vidhan Sabha on Monday to condemn the high-handedness of the Union government and the BBMB.

Mann said this crisis has been imposed upon the state by the Centre but “we are legally correct and morally strong to fight against it”.

The Chief Minister said Haryana has exhausted its share of water allotted by the BBMB in March only after which the state had even sent around six reminders to them. He said subsequently the Haryana government had urged Punjab that they don’t even have water to cater to the drinking needs of people.

He said as a humanitarian gesture the Punjab government generously allotted 4,000 cusec of water daily to Haryana from April 6.

Mann said though the population of Haryana is three crore and as per estimates 1,700 cusec of water was enough to meet the needs of people. However, the Chief Minister said the Haryana government has sought 2.5 times more water from Punjab than its actual need.

Despite this, he said Punjab has been giving this water from April and a few days back, Haryana had pleaded that this water is not sufficient for it and they need 8,500 cusec additional water daily.

Mann said it is evident that this water is needed for irrigation purposes and this problem has arisen as Haryana has not utilised its share of water properly.

The Chief Minister said Punjab is already grappling with shortage of water for agricultural purposes as the groundwater is receding across the state.

He said the level of water in the dams has been recorded all-time low and water level at Pong Dam, Bhakra Dam and Ranjit Sagar Dam is 32 feet, 12 feet and 14 feet lower, respectively, as compared to the last year. Mann said every single drop of water is precious for the state and there is no question of sharing the water with any other state.

The Chief Minister said Haryana and the Centre are trying to suppress the state and it is unfortunate that the BBMB is passing new resolutions every day to rob share of Punjab’s water.

--IANS

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