Mann’s promise of water to Rajasthan opens troll barrage

BATHINDA: Political leaders and farmer unions are questioning Punjab’s “readiness” to share its canal water with Rajasthan, as suggested by chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s address at a Sri Ganganagar rally, while there are concerns about the quality of Punjab’s surface water.

On May 21, when Mann had met Rajasthan MP Hanuman Beniwal in Bathinda, he had promised on his demand to see if he can send water to Rajasthan through the Sirhind feeder canal for the closure of the Rajasthan feeder.

Before that, former MP Dharmavira Gandhi, ex-MLA Simarjit Singh Bains, and present legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira had run campaigns to stop the flow of water to Rajasthan and demand royalty from the neighbouring state.

On Sunday, Mann said in Rajasthan that it received 18,000 cusecs of water from his state through the Gang canal, from which Punjab drew nothing. The Rajasthan government shut the canal in April-May when cotton is sown in that state. Mann said that Punjab had shared water with its neighbour despite the ongoing canal repairs only to keep the farmers from suffering. He warned Rajasthan that the canal water reaching it was highly polluted and unfit for drinking.

Describing how this pollution started from Harike and deteriorated due to Ludhiana’s Buddha Nullah, Mann said: “We are in the middle of a project worth Rs 600 crore to purify this water, so in 4 months, Rajasthan will start getting crystal clear water.”

Former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia tagged a section of Mann’ speech in a tweet, alleging that the CM promised water to Rajasthan while in Sri Ganganagar and to Haryana earlier while in Adampur. He also tagged a speech of Aam Aadmi Party’s MP Sushil Gupta, in which the latter had claimed that if AAP formed the government in Haryana, then the SYL water will reach that state.