New Delhi: Haryana has asked Punjab to provide them drinking water or else the excess water of the Bhakra reservoir will flow to Pakistan. Notably, following the heinous terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April 22 in which 26 innocent civilians were killed, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has pressed upon the need to empty the Bhakra reservoir, which is one of the largest dams under the Indus Water Treaty before the arrival of monsoon.
CM Saini said, “It is necessary to empty the Bhakra Dam water reservoir before June so that rainwater can be stored during the monsoon. If there is no space left in the water reservoir, excess water will go to Pakistan via Hari-ke-Pattan, which is neither in the interest of Punjab nor the nation.” Amid the escalating tension between Haryana and Punjab, he also stated that Punjab’s decision will also affect the supply of drinking water in Delhi. He said, “As long as there was an Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, the Mann government in Punjab had no objection to the water going to Delhi. Now that there is no Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, why is Mann making such statements to punish the people of Delhi?”.
We have not received our full share: CM Saini
CM Saini has replied to Punjab’s claim about Haryana exhausting its share of water in March and said the truth is “we have not received our full share”. Also, he clarified that out of the total water volume that the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) released to Haryana last month, Delhi received 500 cusecs for drinking water, Rajasthan received 800 cusecs, and Punjab itself got 400 cusecs. He said, “Thus, the actual quantity of water received by Haryana remains only 6,800 cusecs.” He added, “If the BBMB were to provide the remaining water as per Haryana’s demand, it would amount to just 0.0001 per cent of the water stored in the Bhakra Dam, a figure so small it would have no impact on its storage.”
On the other hand, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has accused the BJP of pressurising his government through the BBMB to meet the demand of Haryana. He also said that Haryana has already used 103 per cent of its allocated share of water in March. Also, he asked the Centre to diver the water of rivers like Jhelum, Chenab and Ujh to the states in northern India to meet the water needs due to the beginning of the paddy season, since the Indus Water Treaty has been suspended.
Referring to Saini, Mann said that his counterpart has probably forgotten that in the months of April and May, Haryana and Punjab does not witness paddy cultivation and the water that the BBMB releases on these months is only for drinking purposes. Other than the Pong reservoir, the Bhakra provides water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and is part of the now-suspended Indus Waters Treaty. Notably, the two states are also at conflict over the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal which will effectively allocate water from the Ravi and Beas rivers, when completed.
