Omar’s claim on water rights shocking, says Akali Dal

Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday expressed surprise at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s statement claiming his state had complete water rights over the Indus Water system and urged the Centre to undo the historic injustice done with Punjab by the then Indira Gandhi government while deciding distribution of water of the Indus Water Basin.

In a statement released here, former Minister and senior SAD leader 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 of 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 groundwater, 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 huge debt on their shoulders to fulfil the food requirement of the country.

While welcoming the announcement of the Central government to keep the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, Cheema said that this decision had provided a historic opportunity to the Centre to undo the injustice done to Punjab by then-Prime then Indira Gandhi, and it should be compensated by giving it additional water from the Indus Water Treaty project.

Cheema also urged Omar Abdullah that before issuing such dangerous statements, he should keep in mind the requirements of farmers of Punjab and other states of the country. He expressed hope that the Centre would not heed Abdullah’s demand and would do justice to Punjab.

Speaking on constructing a canal by the Indian government to divert excess water from three rivers of the Indus system in Jammu and Kashmir to Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, Chief Minister Abdullah cited the 45-year-old Shahpur Kandi barrage dispute with Punjab and asked, “Did they give us water?”

IANS