Raje leaves Badal ‘red-faced’ over canal pollution

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, February 19

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal faced some embarrassing moments on Thursday when his Rajasthan counterpart Vasundhra Raje flayed his government for being unable to stop discharge of chemical waste into the Indira Gandhi Canal, which supplies water to north-west districts of Rajasthan.

Raje was speaking at the Krishi Karman Awards function at Suratgarh in Sri Ganganagar district where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief guest. Badal was present at the event to receive an award for Punjab's best performance in foodgrain production.

"For my state, each drop of water counts as 50% of our 40,000 villages are facing a drought like situation…Pollutants are flowing into the canal which is coming from your state. The matter needs urgent attention,” Raje told Badal.

She said people in her state were getting diseases such as cancer from the canal water which was the source of both irrigation and drinking water. “I had spoken to Badal saheb regarding this grave problem, but there has been no check in the discharge of chemical waste into the canal by industries in Punjab,” she said. Pollution of Indira Gandhi Canal water has remained a sensitive issue for inhabitants of Sriganganagar-Suratgarh, Hanumangarh and Bikaner belt of Rajasthan.

The canal lies choked at several places in Punjab. “It results in water-logging in hundreds of villages in both Punjab and neighbouring Rajasthan,” said Raje. In his address, Modi also referred to the polluted water supply and said he had raised the issue during the Rajasthan Assembly elections. He said that there was a need to find ways to resolve the matter by sitting together so that the nation can march ahead on the path of development.