Punjab government should give 8.6 MAF total water to Rajasthan: MP Mr. Nihalchand

Shri Ganga Nagar A high-level meeting was held in Chandigarh on May 12, 2023. Former Union Minister of State and Lok Sabha MP from Sriganganagar, Mr. Nihal Chand, and officers of BBMB (Bhakra Beas Management Board), Central Water Commission (CWC), Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), and the Standing Committee on Water of Lok Sabha regarding the water dispute of Rajasthan and Punjab participated
  Apart from Member of Parliament Mr. Nihalchand, Chairman of Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Water Parbatbhai Sawabhai Patel, Chairman of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) Sanjay Srivastava, Chairman of Central Water Commission (CWC) Kushwinder Vohra, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) Officers of Union Jal Shakti Ministry, representatives of Punjab Government and other members and officers participated.
Various points were discussed in the meeting, under which, according to the Rajasthan-Punjab water agreement, Rajasthan was supposed to get 8.6 MAF of water in the Indira Gandhi Canal. Still, Rajasthan has been getting less than .6 MAF water since the understanding. Rajasthan should get the total water of its share. The repair work of Sirhind Tail Gate, 0 Head of Bhakra, Shivpur Head of Gang Canal, Lohagarh 496 RD should be given to Rajasthan State for proper repairs and maintenance of gauge can be done correctly. He said that the canal from Harike barrage to Firozpur feeder from 0 rd to 10 rd is raw; the lining of this canal should be confirmed. The Harike Barrage is currently facing the problem of silt; it should be cleaned to increase the amount of water coming to Rajasthan. The control of water distribution in Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana should be given under the power of the Central Government in place of BBMB so that the share can be appropriately distributed. There should be a permanent appointment of representation from Rajasthan state in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) so that Rajasthan can be represented in BBMB.
Member of Parliament Mr. Nihalchand said that 1425 feet of water were filled in Pong Dam earlier, but now it is being filled only up to 1380 feet. It should be filled up to 1400 feet. At the time of the construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal by Maharaja Ganga Singh Ji, money was made available to Punjab in exchange for their land. Still, even today, encroachment/illegal occupation is being done by the people along the canal. The Punjab government should vacate these encroachments/illegal encroachments as soon as possible and give this land to Rajasthan. Instead of Balewala Head (45 RD), the flow meter of Ganga Canal should be installed at Khakha Head so that Rajasthan's share of water can be calculated from here and water theft in Punjab can also be stopped. STP plants of 1390 MLD capacity should be set up at the earliest on 93 industrial units located on the banks of Sutlej River so that polluted waste of these industrial units can be prevented from mixing in water. An amount of Rs 774 crore has been released from time to time by the Central Government to the Punjab Government for proper redressal of the water pollution problem.
He said STPs should be set up at the earliest on Budda Nala and Kala Sanghiyan Nalas as about 400 MLD sewerage dirty water comes out of these two Nalas, which is directly drained into the canals of Rajasthan. The Punjab Government constructed the link canal to give water to this area from Burji No. 496 of IGNP. After the construction of the head, the allocated water is delivered from 1200 cusecs of Harike Barrage to IGNP through a link head on RD 496. The cross-level of this head is made at 7 feet, due to which silt gets accumulated here, and farmers still need total water. This cross-level should be lowered to 7 feet so that complete water can be made available to the farmers by removing the problem of silt.
  He said that apart from this, the committee visited the Bhakra-Nangal dam and discussed the problems of siltation in the dam, the water supply to the neighboring states of Punjab, the irrigation system, availability of underground water in Punjab, including Harike Barrage. The committee found that Punjab still needs to implement the central government's necessary Atal Bhujal Yojana in the state regarding water conservation. Due to this, the groundwater condition in Punjab needs to be more satisfactory.
  He informed that the committee had given necessary directions to the representatives of the Punjab government to provide a total share of water to Rajasthan state and to prevent polluted water and has also asked BBMB to submit a detailed report on all these subjects. It has also been agreed to send a proposal to the Central Government soon regarding the transfer of water distribution rights to Rajasthan and Haryana by Punjab to the Center in place of Punjab.