Won’t share J&K waters with Punjab: Omar junks Centre plan to build canal

In a fiery rebuke to Centre’s plans to construct a 113-km canal project aimed at diverting surplus water from Jammu and Kashmir rivers to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, UT Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said that he will not let this happen.

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“Let us use our waters for ourselves first. There is a draught-like situation in Jammu. There is no water in taps in Jammu so why should we give our water to Punjab?” he said while addressing mediapersons here.

The Centre is planning to divert surplus water from three rivers — the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus — that flow into Pakistan. These are part of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which has been held in abeyance in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 persons dead. The project is proposed to link the three rivers with the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system in Punjab.

AAP: It’s for Centre to decide, not J&K CM

Punjab AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said the J&K CM couldn’t take a unilateral decision on the matter. He said the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan had been held in abeyance and it was the Centre’s responsibility to proportionately distribute water and give Punjab its due share.

“Punjab already has three rivers under the IWT. Did they give us water when we needed it? We required water from the Ujh and Shahpur Kandi projects… we had to fight for years to get water from Shahpur Kandi. Now, the water (from our rivers) is for us and we will think about others later,” Omar said.

The CM also called for the revival of the Tulbul navigation project in Kashmir and stressed the need to lift the Chenab water from Akhnoor for Jammu city.

Answering a query on whether the National Conference will move the Supreme Court for the restoration of statehood in J&K, Omar said he was waiting for the Prime Minister to fulfil his promise.

Meanwhile, the CM questioned Israel’s attack on Iran. “What did Iran do for Israel to attack it? The US had recently said that Iran is nowhere close to creating a nuclear bomb. So why is it now being targeted? Our students are also stranded there, 400 have been taken to safer places, but 1,600 are still stranded,” he said.