CHANDIGARH: A row has erupted after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah opposed the flow of water from the three rivers of the Indus system in Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab, reminding the neighboring state of how it had “maltreated” J&K for years.
Political parties in Punjab including the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal have hit back, saying it's the responsibility of the Centre, which had put the Indus treaty in abeyance, to appropriately distribute the water and give Punjab its rightful share.
Reacting to Omar Abdullah's statement that J&K will not give water from the Indus river to Punjab, AAP Punjab spokesperson Neel Garg accused him of deliberately politicizing the issue.
Garg said the authority to decide on river waters lies with the Centre and Omar Abdullah cannot take a unilateral decision on the matter. He emphasized that Punjab should also get a share of the Indus water.
Garg pointed out that, like Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab is also a border state. Whenever war occurs, Punjab becomes the battleground, and when the country needs food grains, it becomes the granary of the nation. Now that there is water available, Punjab has a legitimate claim over it.
"In the process of filling the nation's granaries, we have been deprived of our own water. Now that the Indus Water Treaty has been annulled, Punjab has the primary right over this water because it will not only bring relief to our barren lands but also boost our agriculture. When farmers prosper, the nation prospers," he said.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also criticized Omar, saying it was unbecoming of the JK CM to make such remarks. He regretted that Omar was now trying to politicize the issue and score some brownie points. “Where will you send the water and where will you divert the canals?” he asked, pointing out that Punjab would be the natural course of flow for the canals. He noted that the statement smacks of partisan political rhetoric.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) too expressed surprise at Omar’s statement that J&K had complete water rights over the Indus system and urged the Centre to undo the injustice done to Punjab by the then Indira Gandhi government while deciding distribution of water of the Indus basin.
Former cabinet minister and senior party leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was a historical fact that the then Indira Gandhi government had done great injustice to Punjab while giving away a huge share of river waters to the non-riparian state Rajasthan. “Every time it is Punjab which suffers the most. River waters were snatched from Punjab," he said.
Cheema said what Omar Abdullah was demanding was another attempt to do injustice to Punjab. He said that while filling the food bowl of the country, Punjab had lost its ground water which had fallen to alarming levels. He said the quantity of water in rivers had also gone down substantially.
He said farmers of Punjab had taken a huge debt on their shoulders to fulfil the food requirement of the country.
While welcoming the announcement of the Centre to keep the Indus treaty in abeyance, Cheema said that this decision had provided a historic opportunity to the Centre to undo the injustice done to Punjab. He added that the state should be compensated by giving it additional water from the Indus system.
Cheema also urged Omar Abdullah to keep in mind requirements of farmers of Punjab and other states of the country before issuing such statements. He expressed the hope that the Centre would not heed Abdullah’s demand.