Water released to Haryana as fresh water sharing cycle begins

Nangal (Rupnagar): Water was released from the Bhakra-Nangal dam to Haryana as fresh water distribution cycle began on Wednesday, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party lifted its 'dharna' which it had been staging for the past 20 days to oppose release of more water to Haryana.

Punjab and Haryana have been at loggerheads over the distribution of water with the AAP government refusing to share water from Bhakra dam, saying the neighbouring state has already used its share of water.

Though Haryana was demanding 8,500 cusecs of water, Punjab allowed 4,000 cusecs on humanitarian ground.

The AAP workers had been staging a sit-in at the Nangal dam, situated downstream of the Bhakra dam, for the past 20 days to prevent release of extra water to Haryana.

The Bhakra Beas Management Board in a meeting last week decided that Punjab will get 17,000 cusecs, Haryana 10,300 cusecs, and Rajasthan 12,400 cusecs of water.

Punjab had then opposed the neighbouring state's demand of 10,300 cusecs of water from May 21, describing it as "unfeasible" given the capacity of the Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal and the border state's own needs.

Meanwhile, addressing a "victory" rally in Nangal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that Haryana would start getting water from Wednesday.

"I again want to ask Haryana officials to use water judiciously. Do not expect more water from Punjab," he said in his address.

Mann said Haryana was allocated 15.06 lakh cusecs of water in the previous water cycle that ended on Wednesday. But it utilized 16.48 lakh cusecs, he claimed.

The CM also said the state will flag the issue of reconstitution of the BBMB in the meeting of Niti Aayog slated for Saturday.

He said he will take up the issue in the meeting, to be chaired by the Prime Minister.

He said as the level of water is changing frequently, every water agreement should be reviewed after every 25 years.

Punjab is a landlocked border state which has already over explored its only available natural resources in terms of water and fertile soil to feed the country, he said.

Mann bemoaned that the manner in which BBMB "became a party to snatch" the legitimate share of waters of the state was unfortunate and highly condemnable.

He said Haryana exhausted its share of water in the March, but the BBMB acted as a "puppet" of the Centre and Haryana government to "snatch" waters of the state.

Mann said, in an unprecedented manner, the Chairman of BBMB himself came to Nangal to "steal" the state's share of water, a move which was "thwarted" by the people of the state.

Mann claimed that the BBMB, which had taken Rs 32 crore from Punjab for its very existential projects, never returned the money.

Punjab is owed nearly Rs 150 crore from BBMB, he claimed, adding that the state government will soon stake a claim for recovery of this money.

The CM called BBMB a "white elephant" and termed it unacceptable in the present form.

He said 3,000 posts of Punjab's quota have deliberately not been filled by BBMB so as to "weaken" the state's claim over the waters.

Mann said even the townships like Nangal that were aesthetically designed, have been "ruined" due to the "neglect" of the BBMB.

He said Punjab has a glorious history of making sacrifices to protect the 553 kilometres long border with Pakistan.

Mann said that despite being smaller in area, Haryana is getting more water than Punjab.

Today, nearly 60 per cent of the state's farmlands are irrigated through canals, which makes every drop of Punjab's water extremely valuable, he said.