SYL ISSUE: JAKHAR IN WAR OF WORDS WITH DHANKAR

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sunil Jakhar on Tuesday said Punjab has no surplus water to share and reassessment of river water will prove this.

Reacting to Haryana BJP president OP Dhankar’s statement on the Supreme Court’s latest directions in the SYL case, Jakhar said Punjab’s first responsibility was towards its own people, and it was not in a position to share its limited water resource.

The Congress government led by Capt Amarinder Singh had never shirked its humanitarian responsibility, but the acute water crisis faced by the state prevented it from sharing its water resources with other states, Jakhar said.

On Dhankar’s remarks that Punjab owed it to Haryana’s farmers to give them their due, Jakhar said as per the Riparian principle, it was Punjab and its farmers who had the first right to the waters of the rivers flowing through the state.

Pointing out that the CM had been repeatedly asking for a fresh assessment of Punjab’s water availability in Beas and Ravi rivers, Jakhar said such a reassessment would make the ground situation clear.