Will use every constitutional, legal remedy to get our water share: Saini
With the neighbouring Punjab not showing any inclination to abide with the advice of the central government to allow flow of 8,500 cusecs of Bhakra water to Haryana chief minister Nayab Saini on Saturday said that the state will not stay quiet and use every constitutional platform and legal remedy to protect its interests.
Saini who chaired an all-party meeting on Saturday said that a resolution was passed by consensus asking the Punjab government to implement the April 23 and 30 decisions of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to allocate 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana unconditionally.
Leaders cutting across party lines – Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Udai Bhan from Congress, Mohan Lal Badoli from BJP, Dushyant Chautala of the JJP, Rampal Majra and Aditya Devi Lal of the INLD and Sushil Gupta from the AAP - attended the Saturday meeting.
The CM said that by refusing to comply with the allocation of water decided by the BBMB for Haryana, Punjab government has not only done injustice with Haryana but initiated a direct attack on federalism. Saini said this water is meant for drinking purposes and by curtailing the allocation, Punjab is doing great injustice.
'It is a wrong precedent being set by the Punjab government. A state cannot be allowed to hit at the federal structure of the country. Punjab being a border state should act in a more responsible manner. We do not want any confrontation with Punjab but are seeking the co-operation from Punjab,' Saini said a press briefing after the meeting.
Saini said that Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann who has taken oath of Constitution is indulging in an unconstitutional act by refusing to comply with the BBMB decision.
'This water belongs to the nation. It does not belong to one particular state. This is not a such a big issue as has been made out by the Punjab government. For years, Haryana has been getting more water from Bhakra at Haryana contact point even when the water level was low. For instance, in 2018 and 2019 when the dam water level was quite low at about 1,533 feet and 1,623 feet respectively, Haryana got 8,135 cusecs and 10,183 cusecs respectively,' Saini said. The CM said that if the water is not utilised adequately from the dam as its level is at 1,555 feet now, it will get wasted as it will have to be released to Pakistan.
Saini said the Punjab CMs claim that Haryana has exhausted its share of water on March 31, is misleading. 'The BBMB data shows that Haryana has used its quota. But for April 2025, BBMBs technical committee allocated additional water to Haryana. Mann's move to not allow the additional water to flow to Haryana is not only unethical but illegal and unconstitutional,' Saini said.
Saini said that the Punjab CM should not forgot that Haryana was not allocated less than 9,000 cusecs of water in the months of April and May in 2022, 2023, 2024 at Haryana contact point HCP. 'In May 2022, an average 9,727 cusecs was allocated while in May 2023, an average 9,850 cusec and in May 2024 an average 10,067 cusecs was allocated,' he said.
'The water allocated in May from Bhakra is used by Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan for their drinking needs only. In the last many years, about 800 cusecs of Haryana water has been allocated to Rajasthan, 400 cusecs to Punjab and 500 cusecs for Delhi for fulfilling its drinking water needs,' Saini said.
Former Haryana chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that deployment of Punjab Police at Nangal dam to prevent release of water to Haryana was a serious matter.
BOX
Punjab has been getting more water from Bhakra Nangal as compared to its share for the last 10 years. Haryana chief minister Nayab Saini on Saturday said that the technical committee of the BBMB in its April 23 meeting decided to allocate 8,500 cusecs water to Haryana. The April 30 meeting of the Board of BBMB reiterated the April 23 decision of the technical committee. 'Haryana's total allocation is 12.55 million acre feet (MAF) but it is actually getting 10.67 MAF water. On the other hand, neighbouring Punjab's allocation is 14.67 MAF but it is utilising 17.15 MAF water. Thus, its clear that Punjab is using more water than its allocation while Haryana is getting 17% less water of its allocation,'' Saini said at a briefing.
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