Jammu, November 21
Expressing concern at the fast depleting water table in Punjab, Mr Saifuddin Soz, Union Minister for Water Resources, has asked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take immediate steps for its conservation by putting a check on deep water pumping for irrigation.

Mr Soz, who was talking to media persons at a meet- the- press programme in the Jammu Press Club yesterday, said he was worried about the depleting water resources in Punjab that was the food bowl of the country.

He said the water level at about 500 places in Punjab had depleted and 60 of these areas had already been notified.

The Union Minister said due to groundwater level having considerably gone down, farmers in Punjab were resorting to deep water pumping to irrigate their fields. One cannot be allowed to continue pumping water from deep level as the availability of the resource is limited.

He said there was an urgent need for Punjab to take steps to recharge its groundwater.They cannot remain complacent on the issue.

He said Punjab had to resort to rain water harvesting on a large scale by adopting the model bill which had already been implemented in most of the states. Mr Soz said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would hold a meeting with Chief Ministers of all states next month to discuss the waters issue.

He said interlinking of rivers in the country was not an easy job because of the local compulsions of various states which have already taken the rivers water dispute to the courts.

Answering questions about reports of China planning to divert the flow of the Brahmaputra by constructing a dam, Mr.Soz said the issue had been taken up with China by the Ministry of External Affairs. China and India would cooperate on all major issues, he added.

He said there were certain perceived disadvantages in the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan.

The arbitration report of the World Bank on the dispute regarding the construction of the Baghliar power project was expected shortly.

Describing the report of the Sachar Committee on the state of Muslims in the country as a "landmark document", Mr.Soz said the creamy layer among the Muslims would have to go out incase any reservation in jobs was made for the community.

Jammu, November 20
The meeting of the working group on good governance in Jammu and Kashmir here yesterday witnessed the BJP making complaints of continued discrimination against the Jammu region by the state government.

This is one of the five working groups that have been set up by the Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh, to put on rails the functioning of the government. The group is headed by Mr.N.C.Saxena.

The BJP nominee in the group, Prof.Hari Om, said while the UPA government at the Centre was talking of good governance here, but the state government was continuing to discriminate against the Jammu region in the matter of creating new districts, delimitation of Assembly constituencies and development works.

He claimed that the state government should have applied the same formula for the Jammu region that it adopted while creating four new districts in the Kashmir valley. Although an equal number of districts had been created here, but the region deserved a higher number of new districts.

The BJP leader alleged that the Chief Minister had gone beyond his jurisdiction in issuing directions to the delimitation commission to increase 25 per cent constituencies both in Jammu and Kashmir regions.

He also complained that the allocation for the Jammu medical college had been decreased to Rs 70 crore from Rs 100 crore.

The PDP nominee, Mr.Rangil Singh, is learnt to have stressed the need for the administration to be more sensitive towards the problems of the people.

Among others who participated in the meeting were Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, Abdul Gani Hafiz (CPM), P.Namgyal (MLC) and M.S.Pandit, Chairman, Public Service Commission.