4 Congress MPs meet Union Water Minister

Congress MPs Deepender Hooda, Jai Prakash, Satpal Brahmachari, and Varun Mullana met Union Water Resources Minister CR Patil today and demanded immediate intervention from the Centre to stop the Punjab Government from acting arbitrarily, and get Haryana its rights.

Patil assured action on Haryana’s legitimate demands.

The Congress MPs said due to the weak BJP government in Haryana, the AAP government of Punjab had gathered the courage to reduce Haryana’s share of water from 9,500 cusecs to 4,000 cusecs. The Opposition in Haryana has given full support to the government on the issue.

The MPs also demanded that the work of Lakhwar Vyasi Dam should be completed soon, so that Haryana could get drinking and irrigation water. “If its work had been completed in the last 10 years, Haryana would not have faced water crisis today,” Deepender said, adding that the previous Congress government ensured full participation by appointing Haryana quota officials on the Bhakra Beas Management Board on time.

“There were three members from Haryana in it. In particular, an officer from the irrigation department was appointed as a member of the BBMB. Apart from this, the Congress government continuously appointed Chief Engineer, SDO, and Junior Engineers on the board, but no members were appointed after the BJP formed the government,” he claimed.

Deepender said there were three major sources of irrigation in Haryana — the Yamuna, whose water was decreasing; Bhakra, whose water was to come from SYL; and tubewells, since the underground water level was decreasing fast. To recharge the groundwater, the Dadupur-Nalvi canal was constructed by the Congress government. The BJP government decided to fill it up,” he said.

Haryana Tribune