by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Akalis threaten to quit government
Protest over Inter-State River Water Dispute Bill
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Aug. 4
The Akali Dal, a key ally of the BJP has threatened to quit the government if the Inter-state River Water Dispute (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was not sent to the select committee. The Bill has been listed for passage in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow after the same was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The Bill is designed to speed up the resolution of long-festering inter-state water disputes by establishing a single central tribunal in place of the numerous existing ones. Inter-state River Water Dispute (Amendment) Bill, 2019, follows the failure of existing tribunals to resolve river water disputes in a time-bound manner. Of the nine tribunals set up to adjudicate such disputes, only four have given their awards and the time taken to do so ranged from seven to 28 years, minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told Parliament. Heading the list of unresolved disputes is the one over the waters of the river Beas, which has been awaiting an award for 33 years, followed by the Cauvery dispute (29 years). Issues related to other rivers—Krishna, Narmada and Godavari—also continue to rage.
The Akali Dal is protesting as the Centre will take away the powers to resolve the water dispute between Punjab & Haryana on water sharing.
When asked why the Akali Dal did not oppose the bill in Lok Sabha where it was passed, a senior functionary said the importance could not be understood. Now section 12 of the Bill is very dangerous for Punjab and "We can't accept it."
He said, "We will quit the government if the Bill was not sent to the Select Committee."
