CHANDIGARH: Amid an escalating row with Punjab over the sharing of water, the Haryana government on Friday announced its decision to approach the Supreme Court over the matter. Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Shruti Choudhry said that the process to move the Supreme Court has already been initiated. “If this issue is not resolved, we will approach the Supreme Court. We have complete records and data on Haryana’s water receipt, and all relevant facts will be presented before the court.””It is unprecedented that Punjab is withholding the legitimate share of water of Haryana from the Bhakra Dam. This water belongs and is controlled by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), not Punjab, which allocates water based on the needs of the concerned partner states. This process has been followed for years,” she said.Choudhry asked why Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had not raised this issue in previous years when drinking water was allocated to Haryana as per the allocations. “The Punjab Chief Minister’s claim that Haryana has utilized 103 percent of its allocated water is entirely false. Such misinformation appears to be politically driven, possibly due to their recent electoral defeat in Delhi,” she said.She said that during the shutdown of the Bhakra canal system, Haryana had requested the release of 4000 cusecs of water to meet its drinking water needs and to ensure equitable distribution to partner states, including Delhi and Rajasthan, as no water was being received from the Yamuna through the Western Jamuna Canal (WJC). However, Punjab released only 3000 cusecs, which included Delhi’s share of 1049 cusecs. Given the critical drinking water situation, Haryana reiterated its demand for 4000 cusecs.Subsequently, in the Technical Committee Meeting (TCM) held on April 23, it was agreed that 8500 cusecs of water would be allocated to Haryana from April 24 to May 1 under the Haryana Contact Point for distribution to partner states. Despite the consensus, Punjab did not issue the necessary demand letter to the BBMB, resulting in water shortages in Haryana.
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