Chandigarh: Even as the ongoing discord between Punjab and Haryana escalated over the issue of the rivers water share escalated on Thursday, Punjab decided to call an all-party meeting on Friday and a special assembly session on Monday against Haryana being given additional water by Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
The decisions were taken at a hurriedly called meeting by chief minister Bhagwant Mann – which was also attended by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal – to discuss the situation after BBMB on Wednesday ordered the release 8,500 cusecs of water Haryana, despite strong objections by Mann.
Meanwhile, the day also saw protests by the ruling AAP and the Mann government beefing up security around the Nangal dam, from where the water gets released. Mann, who had also rushed to the Nangal dam, said the people of the state would not tolerate “robbery’’ of Punjab’s rights.
For record, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan get their water share from Bhakra, Ranjit Sagar and Pong dams managed by BBMB which decides the annual quota for the trio states from May 21 to May 21, every year. Notably, the fresh row on the water sharing comes alongside the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, which has already been brewing between Punjab and Haryana for the past several years.
Mann had on Tuesday accused BJP of what he termed as pressurising Punjab to release excess water to Haryana, had held that Haryana had utilised all the water in its share in the month of March this year due to which it is now trying to grab some more water from Punjab. He alleged that unfortunately BBMB is being illegally used by the BJP to achieve this goal; Punjab doesn’t have even a single drop of water to share with the other states, he said adding that already the state has given 4,000 cusec of water to Haryana.
He said that instead of playing these unlawful games the Union government should divert the waters of Chenab, Jhelum, Ujh and other rivers to the Punjab after cancelling the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and the surplus water saved from this treaty can be supplied to the entire northern region.
AAP PLAYING DIRTY POLITICS: HARYANA CM
Meanwhile, continuing his attack on Mann, the Haryana chief minister Nayab Saini on Thursday accused the AAP government of doing politics over the issue of the BBMB allocating 8,500 cusecs of water.
Stating that the people saw through the “dirty politics’’ of AAP and AAP has realised that the people of Punjab have made up their mind to oust the AAP, Saini said that AAP had also earlier accused Haryana of mixing poison in Yamuna during Delhi polls. Stating that it was not the water for irrigation, but for drinking water and that Haryana would give water from its share, if Punjab is thirsty, he rued that now he (Mann) is accusing BJP of pressuring Punjab through BBMB.
