2 yrs on, state yet to reply to Centre on Ghaggar issue

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 17

Ghaggar, called “the river of sorrow”, continues to cause floods every year but the Punjab and Haryana governments dither on making plans to tame it. Both governments pass the buck at each other for delaying the matter.

Though the Punjab Government claims to be making efforts to find a solution to the problem and blames Haryana for Ghaggar’s fury, documents available with The Tribune present a completely different picture.

On August 4, 2014, MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, in a letter to the Union Minister of State for Water Resources, had asked him to address the issue on a priority basis. The reply by the minister on June 16, 2015, indicates that the Punjab Government is yet to give its comments on the Rs 117.46-crore project related to Ghaggar floods even after two years.

Union Minister of Water Resources Prof Sanwar Lal Jat has said the state government’s proposal for a drain from the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL), Narwana Branch to Ghaggar, was discussed on March 9, 2013, by the Ghaggar Standing Committee (GSC), after which the state government was asked to give their comments. However, he stated, the state government is yet to file its reply.

He stated that the prevention and corrective measures to avoid damage by floods was a state prerogative and Dr Gandhi should take up the issue with the state government.

Dr Gandhi, while speaking to The Tribune, said he had met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with a delegation and urged him to chalk out a comprehensive plan to deal with the Ghaggar floods. He said he had also asked him to take it up with the Union Government, but the state government was “not taking any concrete steps” to resolve the issue.

Secretary, Irrigation Department, Kahan Singh Pannu denied the allegations claiming that the state was regularly taking up the issue with the GSC. “Even though we are keen on completing the work, the Haryana Government had moved court in this regard. The matter was discussed in the interstate meeting of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh held on August 21, 2014, wherein Haryana objected to the plea, claiming that the matter was sub-judice. We recently held a meeting with the GSC on the issue on July 16 but the matter is still pending,” he said.