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Punjab and Haryana, the main parties involved in this dispute, are
both agricultural surplus states, also termed as the ‘granary of
India’. Both states produce large quantities of grains. In
view of the scarcity and uncertainty of rainfall in this arid area, irrigation
is the mainstay of agriculture and is responsible for its tremendous progress.
With the introduction and widespread adoption of high-yielding varieties of
food grains by forward looking farmers of these states, irrigation became
increasingly important from the late 1960s onwards. Through an inter-state
meeting, an initial agreement on the sharing of the waters of the Ravi and Beas after partition of
India was reached in 1955.
With the reorganization of
Punjab in November 1966, Punjab and Haryana were carved out
as successor states. Thereafter, the present dispute between
Punjab
and Haryana about Ravi-Beas
water started. Four perennial rivers, Ravi, Beas, Satluj and Yamuna, flow through these states.
As a result of protests by
Punjab against the 1976 agreement allocating water from Ravi-Beas,
further discussions were conducted (now including Rajasthan as well), and a new
agreement was accepted in 1981. This agreement faced opposition and a series of
events led to the constitution of a tribunal to examine the Ravi-Beas
issue in 1986. Both states sought clarifications of aspects of the award by
this tribunal, but the centre has not provided these. Hence, the original award
has not been notified (listed in the government gazette to give it final
force), and does not have the status yet of a final, binding decision.
On the basis of the flow
data available from 1921-45, the waters of the Ravi
and the Beas (mean flows) were estimated to be 15.85 MAF
(19,550.66 MCM) over and above
the actual pre-partition use. In an inter-state meeting convened by the Central
Government in January 1955, these waters were allocated to various states as:
Rajasthan 8.00 MAF (9,767.8 MCM); Punjab 7.20 MAF (8,881 MCM); and
Jammu and Kashmir 0.65 MAF (801.76 MCM).
The Indus Waters Treaty was
signed in 1960 whereby waters of the three eastern rivers (the Ravi, the Beas and the Satluj) were reserved for exclusive use by
India. The state of Punjab was reorganized with effect from
1
November 1966 and this raised
the question of Haryana's share in the waters
allocated to Punjab under the 1955 agreement.
In exercise of the
power conferred by the Punjab Reorganization Act, Central Government issued a
notification in March 1976 allocating 3.5 MAF (4,317 MCM) to Haryana out of the 7.2 MAF (8,881 MCM) earlier allocated to
the composite Punjab state. However,
Punjab
was not happy with this decision. Therefore, after a number of discussions, a
fresh agreement was accepted between the party states in December 1981 whereby
the available supplies were estimated to be 17.17 MAF (21,178.86 MCM) on the
basis of the 1921 to 1960 flow series. These were allocated to different states
as: Punjab 4.22 MAF (5,205 MCM); Haryana 3.50 MAF
(4,317 MCM); Rajasthan 8.60 MAF (10,608 MCM); Jammu and Kashmir 0.65 MAF (801.76 MCM); and
Delhi Water Supply 0.20 MAF (246.7 MCM).
Even after this
agreement, sharing of water resources continued to be a politically live issue
in Punjab. An accord called The
Punjab Settlement was signed between the then Prime Minister of
India and Sant Longowal on
24 July 1985. In the accord, the clauses relevant to water were as follows:
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Quantum of usage of waters from the Ravi-Beas
System by different states as on 1 July
1985 should be verified by a tribunal.
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The claim of Punjab and Haryana regarding their shares in the remaining waters was
to be referred to for adjudication to a tribunal the decision of which would be
binding on both parties.
Accordingly, the
tribunal was constituted on
2 April 1986. It was to give its award within a period of six months, which was
extended thereafter. Since the main dispute was over the allocation of waters
between the Punjab and Haryana the tribunal examined
various factors in the Punjab and Haryana, such as the
geographical area, basin area, cultivable area, water requirements, population
density, extent of arid areas, rainfall, etc. It found that the ratios of these
parameters between Punjab and Haryana varied from
1.05 to 1.30. Finally, it allocated the waters between
Punjab
and Haryana in the ratio of 1.3:1. Apart from
accepting the 1981 assessment of the available water by the Central Government
as 17.17 MAF (21,113.5 MCM), the tribunal also considered the surplus water
available below the base stations, of which 40% (amounting to 2,882 MCM) was
considered utilizable. Out of these utilizable supplies, only 60% (i.e., 1,369
MCM) was considered for allocation between Punjab
and Haryana. Thus, the final allocation among the
various states as given by the tribunal was: Rajasthan 8.60 MAF (10,608 MCM);
Jammu and Kashmir 0.65 MAF (801.76 MCM);
Delhi Water Supply 0.20 MAF (246.7 MCM); Punjab 5.00 MAF
(6,167.4 MCM); Haryana 3.83 MAF (4,724.2 MCM): total
18.28 MAF (22,548 MCM).
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