Punjab flags canal water shortage before Ravi-Beas Tribunal, says cant share more water with Haryana, Rajasthan

PTC News Desk: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday reiterated his stance before the Ravi and Beas Waters Tribunal that it cannot share any additional water from the Ravi and Beas with Haryana and Rajasthan asserting that both the states do not fall in the basin area of these rivers. 

Punjab officials apprised the tribunal that only Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir fell within the basin area of the Ravi and Beas.

The three-member Tribunal, headed by justice Vineet Saran (retd) along with members justice Suman Shyam (retd) and justice P Naveen Rao (retd), visited Harike headworks — the confluence point of the Sutlej and Beas rivers — from where water is supplied to Rajasthan through a canal network.

The Tribunal members also visited Ferozepur, where Punjab officials highlighted the issue of polluted water allegedly flowing into the Sutlej from leather industries located in Kasur district of Pakistan.

The Ravi-Beas Water Tribunal was set up under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act to resolve disputes over the sharing of Ravi and Beas river waters among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The issue traces back to the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, when Haryana was carved out as a separate state.

At the heart of the dispute are the distribution of surplus river water and the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, which was intended to transport water from Punjab to Haryana. Punjab has repeatedly argued that it has no surplus water to spare, pointing to falling groundwater levels, rising irrigation demands and reduced river flows. Haryana, meanwhile, has continued to press for its allocated share of water and completion of the SYL Canal.