Facts: After 1947 on the basis of the riparian principle or geographical location out of about 170 M.A.F. of Punjab waters, only 38.3 M.A.F. fell to the share of East Punjab, viz 32.7 M.A.F. in Ravi, Beas and Satluj and 5.6 M.A.F. in the Yamuna. But of 32.7 M.A.F. of Ravi, Beas and Satluj about 9 M.A.F. were then used in present Punjabi Suba, 1 M.A.F. in Ganganagar area and the remaining 22 M.A.F. were used or flowed to Pakistan – Punjab. With Bikaner, Punjab had a contract and charged royalty for the use of its waters in Ganganagar area. The present position is that out of the 22 M.A.F. of available and unused water of Ravi, Beas and Satluj in 1947, about 5 M.A.F. have been allotted to Punjab and the remaining 17-18 M.A.F. have been allotted to the non-riparian states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, and in addition the entire Yamuna waters go to Haryana. In short after 1947, the central government has contrived grounds for not only giving the entire Yamuna waters to Haryana but also more than 75% of the available waters of the Punjab Rivers.
Water Needs of Punjab: Punjab has a cultivable area of 105 lac, acres. According to the experts, the normal acre of wheat-paddy rotation needs about 5 acre-feet of water, per acre or 52.5 M.A.F. for its entire cultivable area. Since Punjab Rivers have only 32 M.A.F. of water in its Rivers, its water resources are hardly adequate for 60% of its cultivable area. But, the unfortunate position today is that out of 32 M.A.F. the major share has been allotted to non-riparian states. Punjab, thus, is obliged to reduce its surface water supply rate per acre to less than to 2 acre feet, and have resort to heavy, expensive, and, to an extent, suicidal tube-well irrigation. At present, of the 90 lac acres irrigated in the Punjab, less than 38 lac acres are irrigated by canals and over 52 lac acres irrigated by over seven lac tube-wells of which only about half are run by electricity.
Unconstitutional Contrivance used for Usurpation of Punjab Waters and Hydel Power
Under item 17 of the state list-II, Shedule 7 of the Indian Constitution, River waters, irrigation, canals, Hydel power and land are state subjects and the state legislature and government have exclusive legislative and executive powers under Articles 162 and 246(3) of the Indian Constitution. But, in 1966 when the Centre was obliged to create the Punjabi Suba, it incorporated Sections 78 to 80 in the Punjab Re-organisation Act of 1966 (P.R. Act) vesting in the Central government powers of control, maintenance, distribution and development of the waters and Hydel power of Punjab Rivers. Under these Sections any unresolved dispute between Punjab and Haryana regarding River waters is referred for Central decision. This Act was patently violative of the Indian Constitution because (a) it made a legislation about the River waters and Hydel power of Punjab Rivers which subjects were in the exclusive jurisdiction of the State, and, (b) it was discriminatory since, on the one hand, it applied the riparian principle to Yamuna waters by letting it remain as a subject for the exclusive jurisdiction of the Haryana Govt. and legislature, and, on the other hand, it took Central control for the maintenance, distribution and development of the waters and Hydel power of Punjab Rivers running exclusively in the state. It is, thus, an obvious case of heads I win and tales you lose, and a patent violation of the Indian Constitution which embodies the universally accepted riparian principle, based on the equitable convention that those who for centuries have suffered losses in life and property from the ravages and floods of a River are the only people entitled to the benefits of its waters and Hydel power. It is this principle which has been observed at the time of division of the Madras state into Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, again, at the time of the decision about Narmada Water when it was clearly laid down that Rajasthan had no locus standi nor any rights to its waters, it being non-riparian regarding that River.
But the Central Government maneuvered, rather coerced the Punjab State, when it had a Congress Government, into coming to an agreement with the Congress Governments of Haryana and Rajasthan and part with a major portion of its River waters as indicated above.
As to Hydel power, the PR Act provided that Hydel power to Haryana would go to it in proportion so the Punjab Rivers waters alloted to it. In 1984 Punjab had constructed a Thermal plant and wanted the use of its own River waters for its cooling arrangements. But the Central Government, which was in control of the Bhakhra Project, would not allow it, and used that control as a lever to pressurise Punjab into entering into an agreement with Haryana and Rajasthan Governments accepting that all Hydel power disputes would be submitted for decision to a Commission appointed by the Centre.
The Economic Future of Punjab Jeopardized:
The losses of Punjab are manifold.
(1) The capitalised value at the 1980 rates, of the Punjab waters transferred to the non-riparian states is Rupees 36000 crores.
(2) The recurring loss of crops alone and corresponding gains to the non-riparian states is about Rupees 2500 crores per annum.
(3) The loss on account of industrial production because of transfer of Hydel power to non-riparian states is many times that of the annual loss of agricultural production.
(4) Electric tube-well irrigation being six times, diesel irrigation being twenty times more expensive than canal irrigation, the additional expense incurred by way of investment and interest is over hundreds of crores each year.
(5) The flood loss suffered by Punjab each year is colossal. The enormity of this injustice and drain can be judged from the fact that in the 1988 floods alone, the Punjab state suffered a loss of over 20 billion rupees in property alone apart from loss, and suffering of human life, while the principal beneficiaries of Punjab waters and Hydel power, namely the non-riparian states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, and their people did not suffer even a penny worth of loss from the Punjab floods.
(6) The greatest anticipated calamity from this unconstitutional diversion, is the continuous lowering of the water table and the feared cessation of most of the tube-well irrigation. The mannual re-charge of sub – soil water is considered to be between 4 and 5 M.A.F. But the suction of sub-soil water by the 7.5 lac tube-wells irrigating 52 lac acres is considered to be over 11 M.A.F. The present position has been that each year the sub-soil water table has gone down from 5 to 15 feet in about three fourth of the Punjab areas. Accordingly, such three fourth of the Punjab Community Development blocks have been declared as black, meaning thereby that tube-well irrigation is un-economic there. The dismal damage would be that by 2010 majority of these tube-wells would become useless, involving a proportionate fall in the present tube-well irrigation area of 52 lac acres and in the Punjab becoming a desert.
The above losses and dangers are well known. The unconstitutional drain of Punjab Waters and Hydel Power to the non-riparian states is considered ruinous for the agricultural and industrial future of the state and its people.
All Attempts to Undo In Justices Frustrated
As the above unconstitutional drain of the natural resources of Punjab was being continued, the Sikh peasantry and the Akali Party resorted to two constitutional means to undo this drain of Punjab’s wealth. First, since 1966 they have been agitating and making peaceful protest through fasts, morchas and otherwise. The last civil dis-obedience movement was started in 1981, in order to prevent the construction of the S.Y.L. canal, the foundation of which had been laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The simple demand of that protest was that the water and Hydel power issue should be referred to the Supreme Court since the same concerned a constitutional matter, so purely within the purview of the Supreme Court. But, instead of referring the issue to the Supreme Court, the camouflage of law- and – order, separatism and terrorism was used to hide and side-track the reality. It is too well known that this policy led to the tragic events of Attack on Darbar Sahib’, ‘Woodrose Operation’, November 1984 massacres, the murder of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the extra judicial killing of hundreds of thousands of the young Sikhs. The second step the Akali Government look was to file a case in the Supreme Court for a judicial verdict regarding the unconstitutional character of the section 78 to 80 of the PR Act of 1966. But, by the afore mentioned coercive agreement among the Congress Governments of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, the judicial process was abrogated and the pending case in the Supreme Court was withdrawn before it could adjudicate upon it. Another attempt to file a similar case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court met a similar fate. As soon as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court admitted the writ petition and constituted a full Bench to hear it, the Chief Justice was immediately transferred, and on the request of Attorney General the pending case was taken over by the Supreme Court on its own file. Since 1984 that petition remains unheard. The above has been the tragic fate of all peaceful protests for over two decades, and resort to the judicial process for attempting to save Punjab from the continuous drain of its wealth and the economic ruin of its people.
It is an irony that the so called Accord which was supposed by the Government to be a solution of the Punjab problem, involved the very acceptance of the S.Y.L. canal and the drain of Punjab’s natural resources which the people had tried to stop during the earlier two decades both through peaceful protests and the judicial process. As to how the people have reacted to the so-called Accord and the solution there – under, is evident from the present fate of all those leaders who had directly or indirectly supported the Accord considered by the voters to be a betrayal of their interests.
Conclusion: It has to be understood that sections 78 to 80 of the P.R. Act are a real strangle hold. Because, first, Punjab’s political fate stands sealed in so far as it will remain perpetually a sub-state with the crucial subjects of water and Hydel power virtually in Central hands and being worked for the benefit of non-riparian states. And, second, because economically, its growth will remain artificially dwarfed, in so far as an unalterable ceiling has been placed on the development, use, and exploitation of Punjab Waters and energy, the key factors for all industrial and agricultural progress. In this context, it would be sheer moonshine for the Government on the one hand, to go on digging the S.Y.L. and the Rajasthan canals and continue the unconstitutional drain and on the other hand to assure the people of the sincerity of the Government in solving the Punjab problem and doing justice to the people of the state.
The only hope for the state lies in the Supreme Court accepting the validity of Punjab Termination of Agreements Act of July 12, 2004. It is, as we all know, now being examined by the Supreme Court which is to advise the President of India on its legal status.
