Call special Assembly session on water sharing: Congress to Haryana govt

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a former CM, today said the state government should call an all-party meeting and a special Assembly session on the issue of water sharing.

“Pressure should be put on the Punjab Government to save Haryana from water crisis, but till now, the BJP government has proved to be a failure in taking Haryana’s share of water. People of the state may face a crisis. Despite repeated warnings by the Congress, the state government never paid attention to the issue,” he said.

Addressing a press conference at his residence in Delhi, Hooda said, “Punjab is hurting the federal structure. Haryana is not begging, rather this is the state’s share of water, the quantity of which was decided under a proper agreement between the two states.”

During the Congress tenure, the state used to get its full share of water as the Congress ensured full participation of Haryana in the Bhakra Beas Management Board, which had members from Haryana. “An officer from the irrigation department was appointed as a member of the board,” he said.

“As per rules, the Chief Engineer on the board should be from Haryana, but during the BJP government, officials were not appointed. When people from Haryana are not on the board, who will protect our rights?” he asked.

“Punjab will create a water crisis in many districts by suddenly reducing the water supply from 9,500 cusecs to 4,000 cusecs, and irrigation of the upcoming crops will also become difficult,” he said.

“Despite the Supreme Court giving a verdict in favour of Haryana on SYL, the government has not been able to get water,” he said.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala alleged that the Modi government and Punjab had pushed Haryana towards water crisis. He said 1,350 cusecs of water used to come to Kaithal, but now it was only 400 cusecs. In Hisar, instead of 1,500 cusecs, only 350 cusecs were being supplied in the Barwala link canal. Only 900 cusecs were reaching Fatehabad, and in Ambala, only 1,200 cusecs were coming against 2,800 cusecs earlier.

Cong MPs seek time from Union minister

Four Haryana Congress MPs — Deepender Hooda, Jai Prakash, Varun Chaudhary and Satpal Bhramchari — have sought time from the Union Jal Shakti Minister on the issue. “The BJP government has done nothing on the waterfront in the past 10 years. The SYL issue had attained finality with the SC verdict in Haryana’s favour in 2016. That time, it was decided in an all-party meeting that a delegation from Haryana would meet the Prime Minister, but it did not happen,” said Deepender Hooda.

Haryana Tribune