Read namaz inside mosques, not in the open, says Khattar

Asks his Punjab counterpart to refer to Central panel’s suggestions

CHANDIGARH:Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Sunday that namaz should “ideally” be offered in mosques or at one’s home. His remarks came after right wing protesters allegedly disrupted prayers by Muslims in 10 public places in Gurgaon on Friday.

Speaking to mediapersons before leaving for a 10-day tour to israel and the UK, Khattar said: “There has been an increase in occurrence of namaz being offered at public places. It is fine till no one objects. But ideally namaz should be offered in the precincts of a religious place or at one’s home.”

Khattar said his government would maintain law and order.

Security forces fanned out in Gurgaon on Friday after members of a group called ‘Hindu Sanyukt Sangarsh Samiti’ staged protests and claimed that Muslim worshippers didn’t have permission to offer prayers at roadsides, parks, and vacant government land in the city. The Samiti comprises 12 Hindu groups, which include Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena and others.

› Being divertible, this water should instead be utilised for the benefits of people of the partner states. MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR, Haryana CM

CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said he has written to his Punjab counterpart Captain Amarinder Singh to join hands in checking the wasteful flow of Ravi waters to Pakistan in view of the water crisis in both the states.

Khattar, while interacting with media, said the sixth meeting of a committee formed by the Centre to address the issue was held at the central water commission in New Delhi in April 2012. The committee had assessed the quantum of minimum utilisable water (MUW) as 32 cumecs (cubic metres per second) that is equivalent to 0.58 million acre foot on a sustainable basis.

The committee decided that the proposal for its diversion by constructing a two to two-and-ahalf-metre high mini dam across Ravi with a gravity flow canal off taking from Punjab’s Dharamkot to Harike head works was viable. The committee also was of the view that any other techno-economically superior alternative that could minimise the problem of implementation of the scheme may be carried out during preparation of detailed project report based on an actual survey and investigation by an agency to be decided separately at an appropriate forum.

“The Centre had accordingly asked all the partner states to build consensus on engaging the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to undertake feasibility studies and go ahead with the project. The Punjab government may take follow-up action on the minutes of the April 2012 meeting,” the chief minister said.

“You must have noticed reports about an unprecedented water crisis that looms large before our states. More and more blocks of Haryana and Punjab have been slipping into the category of over-exploited blocks even as our hard-working farmers toil in the face of a stressed farm sector,” he added.

“The time has come when we must join hands in checking the wasteful flow of Ravi waters to Pakistan. It is indeed unfortunate that there has been no visible progress on the issue so far,” he has said.

“Being divertible, this water should instead be utilised for the benefits of the people of the partner states,” stated Khattar’s communication to the Punjab CM.