Punjab for tribunal on river waters issue

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 12

Punjab reiterated its claim over its river waters, Chandigarh as its capital and on Panjab University during the 20th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) held here today.

The state’s claim in the wake of the longstanding dispute over the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal was raised by Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua in the presence of the Adviser to the Chandigarh Administration, Chief Secretaries of Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, besides Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Officers of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs were also present at the meeting.

In his inaugural speech, Janjua also raised the demand for setting up of a tribunal to assess the situation with regard to the river waters, increasing international flights from the Mohali airport and starting the UDAN scheme from airports in the state.

He also called for strengthening the international borders, uniform policy for purchasing land and stemming the loss to Punjab from the Hansi-Butana canal and the Ghaggar by presenting facts and figures.

The Chief Secretary batted for cooperative federalism and said such meetings were the right platform for bringing to the fore inter-state matters and debate for their solutions.

He made it clear that as per the current state of river waters, Punjab was facing the shortage of water hence it didn’t have extra water to spare for other states.

“These are emotional issues for Punjab and being the parent state, it has full right on its capital which has been denied to it all along,” said the Chief Secretary, adding that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had also pressed for the state’s claims on these issues.

In keeping with the principles of one nation, one family, there must be a uniform policy concerning buying and selling of land in all states. It was imperative for Punjab that these issues should be sorted out, said he.

During the agenda-wise discussions, Principal Secretary, Water Resources, Krishan Kumar said the level of water, which was available with Punjab at the time of river waters agreements, had come down drastically and the state was facing the paucity of this precious resource.

Other demands raised by chief secy

• Increasing international flights from the Mohali airport
• UDAN scheme from airports in the state
• Uniform policy for buying and selling of land in states

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