Will use every constitutional, legal remedy to get our water share: Saini
A resolution was passed by consensus during an all-party meeting 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.
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.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
BSP plans to increase its tally to 30, chalks out poll strategy
Nagpur: After BJP and Congress, it is the Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP ) that is a major player in the Nagpur civic body polls, even emerging the third-largest party in the 2017 polls. With 10 seats under its belt, BSP is now gearing up to increase the tally to 30 and has chalked out a strategy for the same. BSP leader Prakash Gajbhiye said, "A huge population resides in slums and lower-income areas within Nagpur city, and those in power have neglected this completely. I can show you so many places in Nagpur where there is no proper sewage system, no proper roads, and the water supply is also not regular. People have realised that BJP or Congress will never solve these problems; hence they will turn to BSP for that." The party has also worked out their targeted seats in the NMC assembly constituencies, highlighting their preparedness. Gajbhiye said, "Our maximum seats will come from North Nagpur, for which our target is 15. The next highest will be from South-West, where we hope to bag around seven seats. Then in the West and South, our target is three each. And for Central, it is two seats. Now, this is the minimum target, but we are confident of getting much more. " He added that BJP's strategy of regularisation of land and building pucca homes, which can help connect with voters, won't work in the polls. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo "This scheme, to provide housing for the poor, was started by Behenji (Mayawati), so BJP is simply doing a copy and paste of that formula," said Gajbhiye. Regarding Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), Gajbhiye said, "People now realise that VBA won't be able to have any impact on their lives. We have been representing Nagpurians' voices in the civic body for a long time, so we have a proven track record." Their ace up the sleeve is party chief Mayawati herself. "We are planning for two major rallies in Maharashtra. One will be in Mumbai and the other in Nagpur. If Behenji holds a rally, then the entire voting dynamic changes at one stroke," said Gajbhiye.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Setback for India: Jairam Ramesh after US general praises Pakistan's terror fight
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioned the Indian government on Wednesday over recent remarks by a top United States military official praising Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts. Taking to X, Ramesh wrote, 'Recently, the head of the US Central Command called Pakistan a 'great partner in the counter-terrorism campaign'. What will our Prime Minister and his ovation say to this? Is this not a diplomatic setback for India?'advertisementHis statement followed US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, where the outgoing commander described Pakistan as a 'phenomenal partner' in counter-terrorism comments came at a time when India had been actively campaigning to expose Pakistan's support for cross-border terrorism, particularly after the deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in April. During the hearing, General Kurilla urged Washington not to adopt a zero-sum approach in South Asia, stating that the US must maintain strategic relations with both India and Pakistan."We need to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India. I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can't have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India,' he said. 'We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has.'advertisementKurilla's remarks came even as India stepped up diplomatic efforts to hold Pakistan accountable for its alleged role in the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people on April 22. In response, India carried out precision air strikes on terror infrastructure across the border in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May military escalation ended on May 10 after the Directors General of Military Operations from both countries reached an officials, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, had reiterated that India would not accept any equivalence between victims of terrorism and the perpetrators. New Delhi also expressed concern over multiple international responses that appeared to hyphenate India and Pakistan during the brief military Kurilla, who is expected to retire later this summer, also spoke about Pakistan's role in combatting the Islamic State's regional affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, also known as IS-KP. He acknowledged efforts by the Pakistani military and army chief General Asim Munir in countering the terror Watch
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Caste survey decision by Cong brass, not Karnataka government, says CM Siddaramaiah
BENGALURU: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah sought to clarify Wednesday that it was the Congress brass's decision and not his govt's to undertake a fresh caste survey, suggesting unease at the prospect of his core vote bank of minorities, backward classes and Dalits not taking kindly to re-enumeration after leaked data from the 2015 exercise showed a massive jump in their numbers. Siddaramaiah, under the pump for the June 4 stampede in Bengaluru in which 11 cricket fans died, told reporters at Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapur district that there were "some complaints" about the Kantharaj Commission's caste survey data. Won't reject 2015 census report: Siddaramaiah There were claims that the data was outdated, so some suggested a fresh enumeration within a relatively shorter timeline. We won't reject the (2015) report. We have already accepted it in principle," Siddaramaiah said. On whether he was disappointed with Congress's decision to go for fresh survey, he said, "We will act per the high command's directive. It's not our decision."Siddaramaiah and his deputy minister D K Shivakumar had been summoned to Delhi Tuesday for a meeting with Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, purportedly to explain state govt's failure to stem the outrage over the stampede sparked by an allegedly mismanaged victory parade for IPL-winning cricket franchise RCB. While Siddaramaiah appeared wary of owning the decision to enumerate caste demography afresh, Shivakumar batted on the front foot. He questioned why BJP was criticising the decision to conduct a new survey after refusing to accept data from previous one. "Why such opposition when we are trying to address concerns? We are not rejecting the Kantharaj Commission's report. We are only trying to correct the shortcomings of the earlier survey," DKS said.
