Make MoUs signed during Israel trip public: AAP to CM

CHANDIGARH : Accusing Captain Amarinder Singh-led government of being “directionless” on the issue of water management, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said despite being an agrarian state Punjab is yet to formulate a water policy like neighbouring Rajasthan and Haryana.

Addressing the media in Chandigarh, party MLAs Aman Arora, Budh Ram, Saravjit Kaur Manuke, Manjit Singh Bilaspur and Kulwant Singh Pandori asked the CM to reveal the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on water conservation signed during his Israel trip.

“The government has not made the agreements public. The CM must have asked for Israel’s help to recharge state’s groundwater. In his earlier stint as CM, Amarinder took political mileage by cancelling watersharing treaty in 2004. But the state government did not defend it properly. Punjab is facing acute water shortage due to the destructive attitude of the successive Akali and Congress governments,” Arora said.

He said the state failed to even utilise the water assigned to it as per the “anti-Punjab” water agreement of 1981. “Of a total share of 245.62 million acre feet (MAF) water in the last 37 years, Punjab has used 227.67 MAF which is 8% lesser than the assigned quota that could have irrigated 1.25 lakh acre land. On the contrary, Haryana has used 141.87 MAF water against the total share of 132.19 MAF in the last 37 years.