Chandigarh, May 4 (PTI) Punjab Congress leaders went into a huddle on Sunday evening ahead of a special Assembly session convened by the AAP government to discuss the dispute over sharing extra water from the Nangal Dam with neighbouring Haryana.
Briefing reporters about the meeting, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa emphasized unity on matters of “Punjab, Punjabiyat and its water”.
“There are no differences on this issue and Punjab will stand as one. Every Punjabi will stand united to protect Punjab’s water and its interests,” he said in response to a question.
Besides Bajwa, senior party leaders such as Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and MLAs, including Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Pargat Singh and Sukhwinder Singh Kotli attended the meeting.
The special session of the Punjab Assembly will be held on Monday.
On Friday, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan chaired a meeting in New Delhi that advised Punjab to accede to the Bhakra Beas Management Board’s (BBMB’s) decision to release 4,500 cusecs of extra water from the Bhakra dam to Haryana for the next eight days to meet the urgent water requirements on the state and some parts of Rajasthan.
The Haryana government has demanded 8,500 cusecs of water while Punjab is already giving 4,000 cusecs for drinking purposes.
The BBMB’s decision to release water to Haryana on Wednesday came despite the Punjab government’s strong objection, as it claimed that the neighbouring state has already utilised 103 per cent of its allocated share of water. The BJP government in Haryana has strongly stated that it would safeguard the state’s “rightful share of water”. PTI CHS NSD NSD
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