State lays claim to water of three Rajasthan rivers

Vibha Sharma

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 28

Union Minister of State for Planning and Urban Development Rao Inderjit Singh today sought to open another front on the water-sharing issue even as the SYL row between Punjab and Haryana has remained unresolved. He quoted a 1966 agreement between the erstwhile united Punjab and Rajasthan and said it was time that Haryana is given its “rightful” share of the three rain-fed rivers originally flowing through the state.

He highlighted the water-related issues of the parched regions of south Haryana saying the agreement between Punjab and Rajasthan on sharing of waters of the Dohan, Krishnawati and Sahibi rivers of the neighbouring state penned in 1966 should be made public.

He added he had apprised Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of the matter and would also take it up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “It is time Rajasthan stands by its agreement and gives southern parts of Punjab, which later came under Haryana, their due share of waters of these rivers,” he said.

The agreement was signed between united Punjab and Rajasthan in 1966, just before the division of the state into Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. While earlier the waters of these three rivers were flowing uninhibited through the southern parts of Punjab (now in Haryana), fulfilling its irrigation and drinking water needs, over the years Rajasthan had built dams on them, restricting their flow.

Rao Inderjit said though some work had started on one of the rivers, there had been no trace of the records of the agreement for the past three decades or so.

Asked whether it was possible to revive the issue after so many years, especially when states were contesting well-established agreements with proper records, the Union minister said now that the Central government had decided to constitute a permanent tribunal to adjudicate on all inter-state disputes over river waters, it would be possible to resolve all such issues.

“The expenses on building dams and other infrastructure on these rivers is a separate issue. The agreement between Punjab and Rajasthan on the three rivers needs to be made public. The southern parts of Haryana have a right on these rivers as much as Rajasthan,” he said

Notably, the government last year decided to constitute a permanent tribunal to adjudicate on all inter-state disputes over river waters, doing away with the current practice of a separate tribunal for every dispute. Eventually all existing tribunals would be subsumed in this new permanent tribunal.