Centre should settle Yamuna waters issue before asking for Satluj waters: Punjab FM Harpal Cheema 

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema on Friday said that according to a 1954 agreement, Punjab had the right over two-thirds of the Yamuna waters and Uttar Pradesh over the remaining one-third.

Cheema was speaking before the special session of the Punjab Assembly resumed.

He said, “All political parties in the state, mainly the Congress and SAD-BJP, have purposely ignored the subject over the years. They consciously did not mention it.”

Cheema said the Centre should settle the issue of the Yamuna waters before asking for the Satluj waters. 

He said the Charanjit Channi government of the Congress had made a compromise by allocating Rs 50 crore for the CISF security at the Bhakra dam. Punjab’s rights over the Bhakra Beas Management Board waters were compromised, he alleged. 

He said the SAD government also compromised the rights of Punjab on the Yamuna waters.

“The 1972 Irrigation Commission clearly showed that two big districts, Sangrur and Patiala, came on the Yamuna basins. Instead of honouring the water rights of Punjab they are asking for additional water for Haryana. They need to settle the old issuesbefore talking about the Satluj waters,” Cheema said.