Former Haryana CM Hooda slams Punjab for stopping water

Chandigarh, April 29 (IANS) Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday strongly reacted to the Punjab government's decision to stop water for Haryana.

He said Haryana “is not begging, but this is the state's share of water, which the Punjab government will have to give”. “Punjab has no right to cut Haryana’s water share. It’s a big failure of the BJP government that it is sitting silent despite the continuous reduction in Haryana's share,” Hooda said in a statement here.

He claimed 9,500 cusecs of water was reduced to 4,000 cusecs. “Despite this, the Haryana government did not register a strong objection,” he said. Two-time Haryana Chief Minister Hooda said this unconstitutional step of the Punjab government will create a water crisis in many districts like Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Rohtak and Mahendragarh, and irrigation of the upcoming crops will also become difficult.

“Despite this, the BJP is sitting idle,” he said. Hooda said that since coming to power, the BJP has not advocated Haryana's interests on any platform. “Despite the Supreme Court's decision in favour of Haryana on the SYL (Sutlej-Yamuna Link) canal, the government has not been able to get water till date, whereas the BJP is in power in both -- in the state and in the Centre for the third term. From the appointment of people from Haryana in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to the rights of Haryana, everything was curtailed. But the state government did not register any objection,” he said.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said they would not release excess water to Haryana, asserting that the BJP in the Union government is playing “a dirty game”. He, in fact, asked the Union government to divert waters of the Chenab, Jhelum, Ujh and other rivers to northern states to cater to the needs owing to the onset of paddy season with the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.

In a statement here, Chief Minister Mann unequivocally said Haryana and Rajasthan have been allotted their water share. Haryana has already utilised its share of water in March this year, due to which they are now trying to grab some more water by robbing Punjab’s share.

Armed with figures, Mann said Haryana has used 103 per cent of its allocated water and “now the BJP (in the Centre) is pressurising Punjab to release more water to Haryana”. Chief Minister Mann said, unfortunately, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is being illegally used by the BJP to achieve this goal.

Picture Courtesy: IANS