Chandigarh, June 13
Haryana’s case on the SYL canal has received support from an unexpected quarter — the Army.
The Army has supported the construction of the canal so that the Sutlej water which flows across the border to Pakistan should be diverted within India.
The Army expressed this view before the committee for long-term view of availability and optimal utilisation of the waters of the eastern rivers of the Indus system of rivers, set up by the Union Ministry of Water Resources.
The terms of reference of the committee, set up in December last, included prevention of losses from the eastern rivers of the Indus basin, the scope of additional irrigation in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir and a long-term overview of the availability of utilisation of the easter river waters. Col R. Bassi of the Western Command Headquarters, was made its member-Secretary.
During its deliberations, the committee noted that out of the average availability of about 33 million acre feet(MAF) of water in the eastern rivers of the Indus system, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, at present three maf of water was not being utilised and was flowing across the border to Pakistan.
It felt that the complete available river water would be utilised only on the completion of certain projects like the SYL canal, the Indira Gandhi Nahar project and the Shahpurkandi project.
The committee also felt that the reduced capacities of reservoirs at the Harike, Hussainiwala, the canal systems like the UBDC, Sirhind feeder, Bikaner canal and the Eastern Canal and the “incomplete SYL canal was affecting full utilisation of the Sutlej waters.
It specially mentioned in its report a proposal of the Army that since water from the Sutlej flowed across the border through the Hussainiwala headworks, this water could be suitably diverted within India.
The Army pointed out that the flow of river water through the Hussainiwala headworks to Pakistan was about 1.1 lakh cusecs during the monsoon. During the summer, of course, the flow to Pakistan was less.
The Army representative told the committee that the diversion of the excess water flow would ensure that it did not flow across the border to Pakistan even during the monsoon.
The Army also pointed out that certain nallahs or drains like the Naumani nallah, the Saki Kiran, the Fazilka tributary, the Phida outfall, the Hudiara and the Kasur, also had a substantial water flow which was not being utilised at present.
Therefore, the committee recommended that the Punjab Government should also examine the water availability in various drains and nallahs of the eastern rivers and formulate suitable projects and implement them expeditiously to use the water of these nallahs.
