Punjab Government to Challenge Centre's Decision on Kishau Multipurpose Dam Project

CHANDIGARH: The long-pending Rs 15,624-crore Kishau Multipurpose Dam Project on the Tons River, a tributary of the Yamuna, is set to face a legal challenge, with the AAP-led Punjab Government preparing to move the Supreme Court against the Centre’s decision to proceed with the project without involving the state and reiterating its claim to a share of the Yamuna waters. Sources in the Punjab Water Resources Department said that the plea to be submitted in the Supreme Court had already been vetted by a senior advocate, who previously served as the Advocate General of Punjab, as the office of the Advocate General had been asked to approve the draft plaint. The larger argument of the state government is that the Yamuna, like the Ravi and the Beas rivers, was part of the erstwhile Punjab’s river system before the state’s reorganisation in 1966. As Haryana is getting the waters of both Ravi and Beas as a successor state despite the fact that it is not a riparian state, Punjab should also similarly be considered a successor state for the purpose of getting water from the Yamuna, said sources. Sources said that the state government contends that the project cannot be finalised based on the existing Yamuna water-sharing arrangement as the state itself was excluded from the 1994 agreement governing allocation of the river’s surface flow. Also, the other contention is that the May 12, 1994, Yamuna water-sharing Memorandum of Understanding signed between Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan does not include Punjab.