Stop surplus water flow to Pakistan, Punjab farmers' body urges PM Modi

Reminding Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his reported commitment to not allow even a drop of water from India to Pakistan, the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS) has sought his immediate intervention to get surplus water stopped from Punjab to Pakistan.

In a letter emailed to the PM, KSS spokesman Subhash Chander Sehgal said dams were constructed to store 17 million acre feet (MAF) water to supply it to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for irrigation and drinking purposes. In 1990, the BBMB Technical Committee resolved in a meeting at Delhi to keep each dam empty by 10 feet. Excessive rain in Himachal Pradesh and multiple cloudburst incidents forced the respective managements to review the situation in the dams.

Sehgal said PM Modi had on several occasions reiterated that not a single drop of water from India would be allowed to flow to Pakistan. Suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack was widely welcomed by farmers' organisations.

However, the KSS spokesman alleged that from July 1 to September 20, lakhs of cusecs from Punjab was released to Pakistan instead of diverting the same to Rajasthan, where all canals emanating from Punjab faced acute water shortage. Even 13 dark zones were listed in Punjab, but canal water was allowed to go to the Punjab province of Pakistan. This despite memorandums submitted by farmers delegations to the Punjab Governor and the Chief Minister in July.

The samiti asserted that improper water management was bound to affect vegetable and other crops after causing loss to cotton crop in Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and other areas, Sehgal has requested PM Modi to intervene immediately to get the mess created by Punjab ended. OC