Haryana taking excess water from Bhakra main line, Rajasthan govt told

The state government has accused the Government of Haryana of consuming the water meant for Rajasthan, through the Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources, Rajasthan, the state government has stated that the allegation against Haryana was being made after monitoring the flow of water from Punjab at the entry point of Rajasthan for 15 consecutive days. The data for these 15 days has also been sent to the Rajasthan government.

The entire exercise was carried out after the Rajasthan government, during a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Northern Zonal Council held in Chandigarh recently, complained of not getting its full share of water through the BML. Haryana government representatives, who were also present, had contended that they are getting less water from Punjab, and were thus unable to release water to Rajasthan.

Following this, the Punjab government asked field officers to monitor the flow of water in the canal. “From the perusal of the data, it may be seen that Punjab has been releasing water as per the indent placed (rather slightly more) from the BML at RD 390. From the table attached herewith, it is therefore clear that it is Haryana which is consuming water of the share of Rajasthan for its own use. For an illustration, on November 15, there was excess of 135 cusecs of water at the Haryana contact point whereas there was a deficit of 593 cusecs at the Rajasthan contact point,” reads the letter, a copy for which is with The Tribune.

From November 1 to 15, the Punjab Water Resources Department had measured the water from all points, according to which the demand of water through the BML of Haryana was 6,017 cusecs per day, while 6,062 cusecs of water was released in the canal. The released water also included Rajasthan’s share. Rajasthan’s per day demand of water from the BML is 623 cusecs, but it got only 424 cusecs.