No additional water for Haryana, says CM Mann

A full-fledged water war has erupted between Punjab and Haryana, with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini indulging in political slugfest over the release of water to Haryana.

Even as Mann accused the BJP-led government of playing a dirty game by pressurising Punjab to release excess water to Haryana, Saini accused Punjab of going back on the implementation of the April 23 agreement worked out by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) for water sharing among stakeholder states just to “polish” his image in Punjab.

Taking a potshot at the BJP, Mann said they “would not allow the saffron party to succeed in its nefarious designs against Punjab”.

Mann claimed that Haryana and Rajasthan were allotted share in the water of the state from a cycle of May 21 to May 21 every year. The BBMB annually decides the water quotas for Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Haryana, at a meeting with the BBMB officials on Monday, demanded additional water. However, Punjab highlighted a significant drop in water levels in its reservoirs, making it impossible to meet the additional demands, Punjab CM claimed.

Mann claimed that Haryana had utilised all the water in its share in the month of March this year “due to which they were now trying to grab some more water by robbing Punjab of its water”. Mann said hitherto Haryana had used 103% of its allocated water.

The CM said unfortunately the BBMB was being illegally used by the BJP to achieve this goal.

He said already the state had given 4000 cusecs of water to Haryana on humanitarian grounds so as to fulfil its drinking water needs.

Saini, however, claimed that the BBMB decided on April 23 that 8,500 cusecs of water were to be released to Haryana.

“..., I have been informed that the Water Resources Department of the Government of Punjab has still not placed the indent with the BBMB as per the said decision till 2 pm today,” he said in a letter to Mann on April 27.

Saini said Haryana was getting over 9, 500 cusecs of water in May and June every year.

Mann asserted that the BJP should refrain from politicising this issue as water is the necessity of the state and its farmers. Instead, the Union government should divert the waters of Chenab, Jhelum, Ujh and other rivers to the state after cancelling the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, he said.

Meanwhile, Saini asserted that on April 26, he had personally informed Mann over the phone that the BBMB had decided to release water to Haryana, but the Punjab officials were hesitating to implement the decision.

On that day, Mann had clearly assured him that he would immediately instruct his officials to ensure implementation by the next morning.

Saini said by 2 pm on April 27, the Punjab officials had done nothing and even refused to answer calls from Haryana officials.

Saini expressed his astonishment that instead of responding to the letter within 48 hours, Mann released a video to mislead the public and ignore the facts in order to polish his political image in Punjab.

“May I underscore that if timely regular release is not made from the dams, massive releases will have to be made by the BBMB in the eastern rivers of the Indus system during rainy season as a compulsion. This would mean flow of water to Pakistan, which given the suspension of Indus Water Treaty by India, must not be allowed to happen,” he stated in the letter.