Adopt positive approach to resolve water issue with Hry: Shah to Punjab
NORTHERN ZONAL COUNCIL MEET: Union home minister refers to Punjab as elder brother; Khattar urges Shah to set up statutory body for regional infrastructure development
Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday said that Punjab being an elder brother should adopt a positive approach for resolving the pending water disputes with Haryana.
Speaking at the 29th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council here, Shah said the shortage of water had become a critical issue in almost all states and the states have to work in tandem by rising above the political considerations to resolve it.
The Centre was committed to resolving all such pending issues, he said, according to a press release by the Haryana government.
The meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator VP Singh Badnore, state chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur, Delhi Lt governor Anil Baijal, among others.
Speaking earlier on the occasion, Khattar had described the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal as the lifeline of Haryana, and thanked the Centre for the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) for Renuka and Lakhwar-Vyasi dams on river Yamuna.
He said that against the demand of 36 million acre feet (MAF) water, the availability of water in Haryana was only 14.7 MAF.
Despite this, Haryana was giving extra water to Delhi in compliance of the apex court’s orders, from its share of Yamuna waters, even as Punjab was not delivering Haryana’s full share of the Ravi-Beas water, he held.
Shah, in his address, also referred to the Union government’s exercise to bring amendments in the provisions of the CRPC and IPC and asked the state governments to constitute a committee to share their suggestions.
He lauded the initiatives taken by Khattar in this direction and said that Amarinder Singh had also convened a meeting to resolve the issue thereafter.
Khattar urged upon Shah, who is also Union minister of housing and urban affairs, for setting up of a statutory empowered body to facilitate development of regional infrastructure and to meet the growing aspirations of the residents of Tricity of Panchkula, Mohali and Chandigarh on the pattern of National Capital Region (NCR) Planning Board.
He said there was a need for an institutional arrangement for enhancing mutual coordination to respond the growing aspirations of the residents of Tricity.