In the bitter and long-drawn tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party led Haryana Government and Aam Aadmi Party led Delhi Government over the issue of water sharing, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday fired a fresh salvo at his Delhi counterpart asking him to cough up around Rs 100 crore on account of extra raw water supplied to the national capital.
“Haryana is supplying water as much as 1049 cusecs against the sanctioned 719 cusecs of water to Delhi. Yet, the Delhi Government has not paid about Rs 100 crore pending amount on account of extra raw water supplied to the national capital from Haryana,” the Chief Minister said while talking to the mediapersons here.
He said that following the Supreme Court orders, Haryana is releasing 719 cusecs of water per day and extra 330 cusecs per day to fulfill water requirement of Delhi. In the past, the issue of pending charges for supply of raw water has been raised by us several times in Court hearings and meetings between the bureaucrats of two State Governments, he said.
Taking a dig at AAP led State Government, Manohar Lal further said that it is for the first time, we have raised this issue through media and we think that they (Delhi Govt.) will feel ashamed and pay the pending amount.
Haryana had been meeting the drinking water needs of Delhi from its own share against all odds, he added.
Notably, the neighboring states of Delhi and Haryana have been locked in a decades-old water sharing dispute.
AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal is leading the State Government in Delhi.
From a court battle to exchanging angry letters, the two neighboring governments had in the last two years engaged in a blame game following the water scarcity problem in the national capital in summer.
During a meeting with his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at his residence in Chandigarh in November 2017, Manohar Lal had raised the issue of pending amount against Delhi Jal Board for payment of extra raw water supplied since 1997.
With temperatures in the northern parts of the country witnessing sharp rise, the political temperature is also expected to soar once again between the Haryana and Delhi governments over the issue of water sharing.
Sutlej Yamuna Link canal is a state centric issue
Commenting on the contentious issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, the Chief Minister said that the Supreme Court will decide on the construction of the SYL.
We are committed to ensure that the state gets its legitimate share of river waters, he said.
When asked about BJP’s alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal which is against the construction of SYL canal, he said that the SYL canal is not an issue of a political party but a state centric issue.
“If the BJP-SAD alliance wins in Punjab next time, they will talk about the interests of the state only. Likewise in Haryana, the BJP is making efforts to ensure construction of SYL canal. SYL is a state centric issue,” he added.
The SAD led by the Badals— father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir— is a key ally of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. A long-time ally of BJP, the SAD had supported the saffron party in Haryana in the Lok Sabha polls. The two parties already have alliance in neighboring states of Punjab, Delhi and Uttarakhand.
Both neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana are engaged in a political and legal war over water sharing through the SYL canal, which has remained at the centre of controversy for four decades without a drop of water actually flowing in the canal.
Manohar Lal further said that the work has also begun to stop unutilised water allotted to India from entering Pakistan. Work on various projects including the Ujh Dam project is ongoing. With such initiatives, we are hopeful to resolve water disputes between various states, he added.