Water sharing between two or more states has become a contentious issue in our country. Water, as we find it now, has become very valuable commodity and no state is prepared to surrender even one cusec of water to other state. In a country like India, where agriculture is the mainstay of economy, water is the key to agricultural production. We have many rivers flowing through various parts of the country just because India is geographically located in very conducive setting being at the foothill of the Great Himalayas which remain snow clad for most part of the year and which have in their lap enormous glaciers that provide perennial water to the rivers flowing out of it. If there were no Himalayas, there would not be the big rivers flowing out of it like the Ganges, the Yamuna, the Brahmaputra and the smaller ones. In that case no state would lay claim to the ownership of the source of water.
The real irritant in J&K and Punjab sharing the water of River Ravi lies in this river flowing by parts in each of the two states. So far, Punjab State has been making use of the waters of Ravi in an almost arbitrary manner knowing very well that J&K has a claim over the waters of this source. Way back in 1979, the two States entered into an agreement over the niceties of sharing the water and construction of Shahpur Kandi Barrage in Kathua district by the Punjab Government with technical agreement of J&K Government. The Punjab Government was also supposed to build the 2.3 kms of canal from Satwain to Basantpur to supply 1150 cusecs of water to Ravi canal through gravity. However, with the passage of time the Punjab Government almost pulled out of the agreement by not fulfilling the necessary conditions of releasing 1150 cusecs of water. It took shelter behind a law passed by the Punjab Legislative Assembly annulling all commitments Punjab Government had made in regard to sharing of water. The stalemate prevailed for many years and the farmers of two districts of Kathua and Samba, who had been expecting irrigation of nearly 30,000 hectares of land by the waters of Ravi canal, felt deeply disappointed. Late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had taken up the matter with the Punjab Chief Minister first on personal level and subsequently on Chief Secretary level. The Punjab Chief Minister then had announced that its agreement with the J&K Government over the sharing of Ravi waters and construction of the dam and 2.3 kms of canal would be honoured. At least three meetings between the Chief Secretaries of the two States have been held so far but without any positive result.
The on-going stalemate and non-resolution of the dispute has deprived the State of the benefits of enhanced agrarian products through irrigated farms and denial of generating electric power over the years all amounting roughly to a loss of 4000 crore rupees to the State exchequer. The way in which this water dispute between the two neighbouring states is dragged on is an indicator that there is lack of nationalism in our leadership and that regionalism has the better part of it. This is not at all a healthy sign for our democracy. How can we think of surviving at the cost of others?
There is dispute over water sharing in some of the southern states going on for many years without any hope of its final resolution. Then we have the unresolved question of linking major rivers of India floated by the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We have the Yamuna Link issue still unresolved. If this situation is allowed to continue, then in future we can have many more disputes even on small nullahs and streams running over the surface of the earth in our country. A pre-requisite of resolving water disputes is full realization of and respect for the sense of nationalism. Resources that are available in the county are the common property of all Indian nationals. No State can lay exclusive claim to water resource. What we need to understand is that water management has to be planned on national level. In this process the basic principle is to make all efforts that deficit rainfall during the monsoons or draught conditions in any part of the country do not mean that the affected people have to be left to their fate and that the rest of the county is not obliged to come to their rescue.
At the moment nearly five states in the country are reeling under draught conditions. Central Government is taking serious measures to meet the challenge. The Prime Minister did say at one point of time that the proposal of interlinking of major rivers of the country may become a necessity to overcome draught situations that threatens lives of millions of farmers. In view of this, we would like to appeal to the Punjab Government to honour its commitment of Shahpur Kandi Barrage and allow the agreed quantity of Ravi waters to flow to the barren lands of twin districts of the State where the concerned farmers are struggling every day for survival.
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