Punjab would have no water in 15 years: Amarinder
Chandigarh, June 27: Punjab may mean the land of five rivers but the agrarian state may not be left with any water in the next 15 years, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh warned on Wednesday.
"Punjab would have no water left in the next 15 years unless immediate steps are taken to control the situation.
"With the highest rate of decline in ground water level, Punjab has the highest percentage of dark zones in the country," Amarinder Singh said, expressing serious concern over the depleting water levels.
Mission Director of the Directorate of Ground Water Management Arunjit Singh Miglani said: "Punjab, which has the highest rate of groundwater exploitation, had during 2008-2013 on an average withdrawn 28.2 Million Acre Feet (MAF) yearly, with yearly average replenishment of only 18.9 MAF, thus causing a severe shortage."
The Chief Minister underlined the need for a Master Plan for conservation of water and suggested including water conservation in school curriculums to create awareness among children about the importance of saving ground water.
Looking at the critical situation, Amarinder Singh appealed to farmers to minimize the use of tubewells and shift to canal-based irrigation.
Miglani, who made a detailed presentation to the Cabinet highlighting the gravity of the problem, said: "Punjab uses 73 per cent of its groundwater for irrigation, while only 27 per cent of surface water is utilized for irrigation purposes.
"The number of tubewells in the state had gone up exponentially - from 2 lakh in 1971 to 12.50 lakh in 2015-16 - with 41 per cent of these having the availability of water at the depth of beyond 60 metres."
The Chief Minister also exhorted the farmers to go for crop diversification instead of sowing water guzzling crops like paddy, which requires 150 cm of watering even though actual requirement for plant growth is only 60 cm with the remaining water getting lost in evaporation, a spokesman said here.
The Punjab Cabinet, which met here on Wednesday, set up a five-member sub-committee to assess the ground water situation in the state and come out with a detailed proposal for conservation of the critical resource.
Amarinder Singh suggested that the committee, comprising Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Revenue Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Environment Minister O.P. Soni, should visit Israel to study the methods being used by the West Asian country to minimize the use of ground water.
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Why can't Centre say it will consider genuine grievances of farmers? SC asks
New Delhi, Jan 2: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre why couldn't it say its doors were open and it would consider the genuine grievances of farmers protesting over various demands, including the legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops.
Further, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the Centre to respond to the fresh plea filed on behalf of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal seeking direction to the Union government for implementation of the proposal, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops, made to the protesting farmers in 2021, after the farm laws were repealed.
"Why can't your client make a statement that it will consider the genuine demands and we are open to discuss the grievances of farmers, our doors are open? Why can't the Central government make a statement?" the bench asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta.
"Perhaps the court is not aware of various factors weighing in," he said, "therefore, right now we are confining ourselves to the issue of health of one individual. The Central government is concerned with each and every farmer."
Petitioner in-person Guninder Kaur Gill, who filed the fresh plea on behalf of Dallewal, was asked not to adopt a confrontational approach as the court had constituted a high-powered committee headed by retired high court judge to deal with various such issues.
"You are asking for compliance of the proposal. How can we direct the compliance of the proposal? You have to bring something more on record. We are issuing notice on this. But think of something. Let us not go with the confrontation… Please don't think of confrontation," said the bench.
Gill said the issue was resolved in 2021, when a proposal for the guarantee was adopted.
"The matter was already resolved into a guarantee. Last two-three lines of the proposal make it amply clear that it was a guarantee on the part of the Central government… It was a commitment and a promise on the basis of which the farmers withdrew their andolan (agitation). Now, they (Centre) cannot go back," she said.
Committee after committee were being constituted to resolve the same issues, added Gill.
The court said it had "full faith" in the committee, headed by a former judge who, in a way, had roots in the agriculture sector from both Punjab and Haryana.
"We have included experts from Punjab and Haryana, who are agriculturist, economist and professors. They are all learned, neutral fellows and their names came from both sides. Now that the committee is there, why are you not moving through a platform? We cannot directly have dialogue with the farmers. Probably, the central government, whatever may be the good or bad reasons, it is for them to take a decision," said Justice Surya Kant.
The bench directed a copy of the petition to be served upon the member secretary of the high-powered committee, which is likely to hold talks with the protesting farmers and other stakeholders on January 3.
It asked the Centre and the committee to file their responses to the fresh petition filed on behalf of Dallewal within 10 days.
Dallewal has been on an indefinite fast at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana since November 26 to press the Centre to accept the farmers' various demands.
The farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, 2024, after their march to Delhi was stopped by the security forces.
