New Delhi, 20th March 2007. Even before settling down to the business of administering the State after the impressive victory in the State Assembly elections, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has declared that he would amend the law passed by the State Assembly on June 4, 2004 during the rule of the Congress Party in order to complete the "unfinished"
On March 3, the Chief Minister declared that his government would scrap Section 5 of the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act (PTAA), which safeguards the usage of waters of the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej for Haryana and Rajasthan.
It may be an over-reaction to term this move "disruptive and anti-national"
His "oneupmanship"
As a senior politician, he cannot be unaware that the entire issue has been referred by the President of India to the Supreme Court in July 2004 for its opinion under Article 143 of the Constitution. Until this opinion is expressed by the Supreme Court, any action on the water issue would amount to contempt of the court and Mr. Badal, at this age, should remain prepared to serve any sentence passed against him by the apex court for this breach.
The basic principles regarding river waters are that it is a "negative commodity" and does not belong to anyone. Secondly, if Mr. Badal's principle is accepted, then Himachal Pradesh can easily claim that all the waters of the three rivers- the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej which flow through that State belong to them as they first flow through HP before entering Punjab. The first two rivers originate in Himachal Pradesh and the third in Tibet, after which it flows through Himachal Pradesh, entering Punjab only after the Bhakra resevoir (Gobindsagar)
Punjab may consider the fact that the Gobindsagqr reservoir is situated within Himachal Pradesh, and by taking recourse to Mr. Badal's and Mr. Amarinder Singh's logic, that State can as well divert waters from the reservoir towards say Uttarakhand and then on to Uttar Pradesh, bypassing Punjab.
Mr. Badal has stated that he would apply the Riparian principles for his move to ensure exclusive use of the river waters for Punjab. What apparently he means is that since these three rivers do not touch either Rajasthan or Haryana, they have no rights over these waters. This is a fallacious argument. He also forgets the conditions under which the Indus Waters Treaty of September 1960 was signed.
First, the Ravi Bear Water Disputes Tribunal has shown that both Rajasthan and Haryana are part of the Indus basin and so can legitimately claim supply of waters from that river or its tributaries. Since under the Treaty, the Indus. the Jhelum and the Chenab have been given to Pakistan and the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej to India, the basin States of Rajasthan and Haryana are entitled to share the waters of these three rivers with Punjab and Himachal Pradesh as well.
Thirdly, it must be remembered that the Treaty was signed only after it was agreed that vast areas of Rajasthan and southern Punjab (now Haryana) can be irrigated from the waters of these three "eastern rivers" and India had paid an amount of Pound Sterling 62.06 million to Pakistan for enabling that country build structures in their country to regulate the flow of the three eastern rivers after they cross into Pakistan for the purpose of maintaining the vast irrigation potential created in western Punjab areas before Partition.
That money, it is contended, was given by India and not the State of Punjab alone. Therefore the whole of India can utilize the waters of these three rivers, and not Punjab alone.
It is surprising that any politician in Punjab can even contemplate stoppage of waters to Rajasthan from the "Punjab" rivers. Do they want that the Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana and the Gang canal (NOT Ganga canal) would be scrapped because they receive waters from the Sutlej from the Ferozepur and Harike Barrages? Do they want that Rajasthan would once again revert to its old status of a desert State?
