‘Release 50% share from seasonal rivers’
DEMAND Haryana asks Rajasthan to give water from Krishnawati, Dohan
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has sought the release of 50% share of water from the seasonal Krishnawati and Dohan rivers to the state by Rajasthan. The matter will come up at the fifth meeting of the Upper Yamuna Review Committee ( UYRC) that has been re-scheduled for May 15.
The committee is headed by the union minister for water resources and has the chief ministers of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi as members. The panel was constituted to supervise the functioning of the Upper Yamuna River Board ( UYRB), a body of Yamuna-basin states.
Officials said Rajasthan has been allocated 3,198 cusecs of water in the memorandum of understanding of May 1994 among the Yamuna basin states. The allocation was due to Rajasthan’s contribution to the Yamuna basin from rivers such as the Krishnawati, Dohan, Sahibi and Landoha nullah during monsoon.
From 1980, Rajasthan has constructed bundhs in the catchment areas of these seasonal rivers, resulting in stoppage of flow to Haryana.
“Due to this, the ecology of Mahendergarh and Rewari districts has been affected. Thus, we have demanded that Rajasthan release 50% of the flow in the seasonal rivers originating from Rajasthan and flowing into Haryana during the monsoon,’’ Haryana officials said.
Haryana had raised the issue of construction of bundhs by Rajasthan on the Sahibi, Krishna and Dohan in 1995 during a meeting of the board.
The state government said these rivers are tributar- ies of the Yamuna and water from these was being used by Rajasthan through the year.
Thus, this aspect should be taken into account while deciding the distribution of water. Rajasthan, on the other hand, contended that if water of the Sahibi, Krishna and Dohan were accounted for then all other member states should give details of drawals of water by lift or any other means from the Yamuna.
As per documents, it was accepted in a 1996 meeting of the board that any consumptive use by any of the states on any tributary joining the main river upstream of Okhla should be accounted towards utilization by the state concerned from its share allocated in the MoU of 1994.
In 2004, the board decided that a joint inspection of the storages would be held by a three-member group, comprising board member secretary and representatives of Haryana and Rajasthan.