Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
Kirti Kisan Forum urges Punjab Govt to recover royalty on canal water from Rajasthan and Delhi
Build new canal network for recharging the subsoil water
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, July 28, 2024:The Kirti Kisan Forum, an outfit of former IAS, IPS, Army officers and other social crusaders today urged the Government authorities concerned to recover the royalty on the canal water being supplied to Rajasthan for the last many decades.
In a statement issued here today by Chairperson of the KKF and former IAS officer Swarn Singh Boparai, the KKF said that the issue of recovery of the royalty of water is hanging fire since 1955 when an agreement was reached on declaring that the decision regarding the cost of water would be taken at a later stage.
A calculation made by experts throws up a figure of 14 lakh crore due to be recovered from Rajasthan of last 50 years and Rs 14000 cr from Delhi which is already paying to Himachal Pradesh in lieu of canal water.The KKF said that before Independence, Punjab used to get the cost of canal water that used to be supplied to a part of Rajasthan.
Moreover, now the Supreme Court has upheld the right of states concerned to charge royalty on minerals.
Hence, Punjab has the right to charge the royalty on canal water over which the state has legal right of ownership under riparian rules and regulations.
As Punjab is facing sub soil water crisis and is on the verge of turning a barren land, the KKF has urged that the Punjab Government should start to use the entire Sutlej and Beas river water by drawing new canals from the Harike Headworks.
It should be made clear to all concerned that Punjab has no surplus river waters and it could not afford to draw more water from the sub-soil through tube wells because the situation on this front has become grave endangering the livelihood of future generations.
The KKF has urged the state government to plug leakages of water from various barrages, and headworks on rivers as water has become to precious and each drop needed to be used in the state.
The KKF said that it was disappointed as the Central Government has not kept its promise made to farmer organizations regarding the legal guarantee of the MSP for various crops.
Farmers and their supporters were expecting that the Government would make an announcement in this regard while presenting its budget for the year 2024-25 but it did not happen.The legal guarantee on the MSP is one for the foremost demands of the farmers for which they have been agitating for the past many years.
The KKF has also written a letter to the President of India Droupadi Murmu appealing her to direct the Election Commission of India to clear the doubts raised by various organizations with regard to the number of votes polled in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Certain organizations have prepared reports and have raised questions saying that there is a discrepancy in the initial count and final count of votes polled in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The KKF has decided to convene a meeting of leaders of farmer organisations and experts to deliberate on the critical issues such as economy, agriculture, environment and migration of youth to various countries.
Apart from others, former IAS officer Kulbir Singh Sidhu, Dr Karmajit Singh Sra , former IPS G. S. Pandher , Ranbir Singh Khatra and former army officer including Brig Harwant Singh, Brig Inder Mohan Singh,Col AS Hira, Col Malwinder Guron,Brig GJ Singh,Col IS Pannu and former ETO Jarnail were present.