Irrigation and Law ministries in the state are divided over the way out on Punjab’s breach to a 30-year-old water-sharing agreement.  A Kashmir Life report.

When Irrigation and PHE minister Taj Mohiuddin informed the legislature last week that “some bureaucrats are working against the interests of the state”, he barely offered the tip of an iceberg. Right now, his ministry is engaged in a cold war with the Law ministry.

Taj Mohi-Ud-Din Photo: Bilal Bahadur

The two differ over the way out for J&K’s festering water dispute with Punjab that involves an apparent delay if not a denial by the neighbouring state to J&K’s rights under a 1979 agreement.

J&K’s failure in getting water from Ranjit Sagar Dam on River Ravi has forced a shift in crop pattern in Kathua Vijapore belts leading to yearly losses of over Rs. 248 crores.

The Irrigation ministry suggests a pro-active stand by extracting its water share from Ravi from a spot within J&K. Law ministry, however, wants the cabinet to follow the pattern that has evolved over the years, i.e to go for pressure building than giving Punjab a chance to accuse J&K of breaching the understanding.   Since the case is already with the apex court, it feels any arbitrary mechanism would weaken J&K’s case.  The controversy has been eluding a solution for decades.

The Inter-State Conference

This all started on January 29, 1955, when Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru presided an inter-state conference to help states properly regulate and utilize waters from Ravi and Beas rivers. Till then, J&K was utilizing 0.04 million acre-feet (MAF) of Ravi waters. The conference gave an additional J&K 0.65 MAF. Punjab got 5.90 MAF, Rajasthan 8 MAF and the states were asked to submit their proposals to the Planning Commission about how they would go ahead.

Shahpur Kandi Hydro-Power Project

Punjab started working on a mono-purpose storage facility in 1957 that is now called Thein (Ranjit Sagar) Dam. Almost six years after, J&K started drawing 0.215 MAF using the Kathua canal. The balance share of 0.475 MAF, according to 1955 agreement was to be supplied partly from free flow supplies and partly from storage of Ravi water respectively as 0.285 MAF and 0.19 MAF. The storage availability was only possible after the construction of Thein Dam.

After India and Pakistan signed Indus Water Treaty, Punjab decided to convert the irrigation project into a multi-purpose project with emphasis on hydropower. On its part, J&K government in May 1972 formulated the idea of constructing 82 km long Ravi Canal between the proposed dam and Chak Salarian, a village in Vijapore. Planning Commission approved it in May 1973 at an investment plan of Rs. 29.84 crores. Work began in 1975 from its proposed tail end.

Another Agreement

But Punjab faced a problem. It could not set up the multi-purpose project unless it was supported by Himachal Pradesh and more importantly J&K. The Dam site consisted of some 22 villages in J&K including Thein the village that gives the barrage its name. This necessitated an agreement between Punjab and J&K on January 20, 1979, signed by Surjeet Singh Barnala and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah.

The agreement that many think lacked any technical inputs from the J&K side, promised the state a basketful of benefits. J&K was taken as a partner and asked to invest in the canal network that had the capacity to take 0.69 MAF. The agreement gave J&K rights over 20 per cent of generations at busbars and 15 per cent stakes in all kinds of jobs that the project would generate. Affected population was to be compensated and rehabilitated by Punjab and the areas inundated or the roads damaged were to be aligned by it under the agreement.

The canal was supposed to take off from the tailrace channel at Thein and would require a tunnel and a covered conduit. As the work started, Punjab government came up with another suggestion. It suggested that the canal would take off from Shapurkandi, almost 7.5 km downstream of Thein dam, where Punjab was setting up irrigation cum energy facility. It would reduce the length of the canal and do away with the most difficult part of the project – the tunnel and the conduit.

The Thein Destruction

The Thein dam submerged 22 villages. A total of 1,11,740 kanals of land with over 950 houses and over 262372 trees were devoured by this 160-meter high earth-core-cum-gravel shell dam –highest in India. Built at an overall cost of over Rs. 5,065 crores, it taps Ravi waters with one of its banks falling in J&K. The multi-purpose dam has the capacity to generate 600-MW power and can irrigate over 350 thousand hectors of land in the two states.

But the residents in Basholi and surroundings insist Punjab breached in implementing the agreement. A sum of Rs. 208 per kanal were paid to 272 families as compensation.  Local Congress leader Lal Singh says that the number of families ousted by the project has gone up from the initial 767 as the dam height was raised substantially mid-way. By 2003, when the then chief minister flew to Chandigarh for reopening the case, of the 766 persons identified for employment in the project, 336 were still waiting for their orders. Instead of Punjab, the state government had to appoint 583 people from the affected lot. Against the payable compensation of Rs. 83.67 crores, Punjab has paid only Rs. 68.86 crores, so far.

The dam also created a gulf in Kathua. A few minutes drive between Satwain and Basholi and Basholi to Patrian turned into a 50 and 100 km drive that took hours. A ferry service that began in late 2003 has, however, helped bridge the gulf.
Ravi Tawi Irrigation Complex (RTIC)

The RTIC, a combination of Ravi Canal and Tawi Lift Canal projects, was the main system that would accrue J&K the benefits of the agreement.  The Ravi canal was supposed to get 1150 cusecs of water from the right bank of Thein dam to Kathua under 1955 decision. The 1979 agreement led it to take off from Shahpur Kandi barrage, a facility yet to come up.
By now, of the 81 km of the main canal, 79.50 km stand completed. Similarly, 17 of 20 distributaries that take off from the canal in Kathua are also complete. The network involved investments of Rs. 134 crores on the main canal and 475 km of distribution networks.

With the main canal ready and Shahpur Kandi barrage nowhere, J&K government had to make additional investments. At an investment of Rs. 25 crores, it set up two lift stations, one at Lakhanpur (200 cusecs capacity) and the other at Basantpur (500 cusecs capacity) in 1984 and 1989 respectively to feed water into the completed portion of the Ravi canal. This helped the government to offer irrigation to 27500 acres but 72500 acres of cultivable areas is still deprived of irrigation, courtesy Punjab. This turns out to be a yearly loss of Rs. 248 crores, and an overall loss of Rs. 1550 crores over the years.

 “Despite completion of lift station at Lakhanpur in 1985-86, the actual supply of water could only be possible in Kharif 1988 due to non-cooperation of Punjab government with respect to raising of height of Madhopur barrage gates necessary for taking off additional 200 cusecs in Kashmir canal,” notes H B Khajuria, a former chief engineer. “Construction of Thein dam was delayed and powerhouse was shifted to the left bank so as to prevent J&K to take off Ravi canal from tailrace of the dam from the right bank (as envisaged in 1964-65).” As J&K government started making Basantpur lift station operational, the Punjab government in 1990-91 diverted waters from Ravi towards left bank causing the lift scheme’s underutilization, Khajuria notes.

The Elusive Energy

Since April 2001, Punjab is generating energy. Though it is yet to run to its full potential because that would release 24000 cusecs of water that would go un-utilized in absence of Shahpur Kandi barrage.

For power, both the states laid a transmission line. “We spent around Rs. 4.80 crores to lay that line and then it needed a station to join the two sides. J&K had nothing to invest in any kind of station but Punjab disagreed.

This forced the two states to take the issue to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) that finally said the station was not needed at all,” a senior power ministry official told Kashmir Life. J&K has stakes over 20 per cent of the generations, an energy it could utilize or sell to any state including Punjab. But it could not happen because, right now, it is the costliest energy in the northern region. “Punjab government has added the irrigation related costs to the energy project that makes it simply unaffordable. It is producing 1509 million units of energy that costs Rs. 8.04 a unit.”

There is no progress on the barrage even though P V Narasimha Rao laid its foundation stone on April 20, 1995. Supposed to complete in three years, it is still far away. Its cost has now been revised to Rs. 2339 crores and it would generate an additional 168 MWs. As per the last intimation that J&K chief secretary received from Punjab, the project stands declared as a national project by union water resources ministry. Punjab has asked for Rs. 150 crores from J&K as part of its liability towards the Shahpur Kandi barrage. Uncertainty is still there but Punjab government has signed a MoU with NHPC for implementation of the barrage project because its absence has reduced the Ranjit Sagar project’s potential to merely 100 MWs.

A Unilateral Action

On July 12, 2004, Punjab created history when its Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Bill, 2004 annulling the December 31, 1981, agreement between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan relating to the Ravi and Beas water. Done in “public interest” the bill saw Congress and Akalis on the same side defending Punjab’s riparian rights.

The 1981 agreement had changed the flow series from 1921-45 to 1921-60, which had the result of increasing the availability of Ravi-Beas waters from 15.85 MAF to 17.17 MAF. The new allocation gave Haryana (non-riparian) 3.50 MAF, Rajasthan (non-riparian) 8.60 MAF, Delhi (non-riparian) 0.20 MAF, Punjab (riparian) 4.22 MAF and J&K (riparian) 0.65 MAF. Under clause IV of this agreement, Punjab and Haryana withdrew their respective suits from the apex court. The bill changed the entire equation of water sharing. The bill, then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh said saved 900 thousand acres from going barren thus saving the livelihood of 1.5 million families.

As J&K remained a mute witness, the bill created a flutter between Punjab and other states. The President exercising his powers under Article 143 (1) of the Constitution made a reference to the apex court. The court arrayed J&K as a party and issued notices to which a reply was filed on November 20, 2004, opposing the bill. Punjab government filed a civil suit in the apex court in 2007 seeking a declaration of section 78 and 79 of the Punjab Re-organization Act 1966 enacted by the parliament as ultra vires of the constitution of India. Though J&K has been arrayed as a defendant, it has decided not to jump into the ring because it does not impact its interests.

However, it was in this crisis that a ‘ray of hope’ emerged when Chief Secretary received a letter from his counterpart on July 17, 2008. The letter seeks Rs. 150 crores from J&K on account of 10 per cent of the cost of the Shahpur Kandi barrage as per the agreement of 1979.

Options Left

The state ministries divided over the way ahead.  In his five-page report, Principal Secretary to PHE and Irrigation A K Angurana suggests a pro-active approach to end further losses to the state that have accrued to 1550 crores till date. Angurana’s note to the cabinet suggests construction of “a canal taking off from the inflow of the reservoir of Ranjit Sagar Dam (Satwain) and connecting it with the existing Ravi Canal at Basantpur. The length of this newly proposed canal shall be about nine km. It is proposed that we should immediately start working on the formulation of this project which shall involve detailed geological investigations and surveys, designs and drawings with reference to the exact location of taking off and merger with the existing canal.”

Irrigation minister Taj has often remarked that the tunnel taking off from Satwian near Thein would also help generate nearly 35 MW of energy. Of the nine km, it would need five km to be tunnels to the turbines and the entire project would not cost more than Rs. 550 crores and would be ready within less than four years.

But Principal Secretary Law Akhter Kochak and Advocate General see the proposal “not viable and advisable.”

They suggest waiting for the apex court decision indicating that the Punjab law is unlikely to be upheld. Since the case is sub-judice, they say implementing the plan would “amount to rendering the presidential reference and the apex court proceedings ineffective.” Instead, they want the state to follow up on the Punjab chief secretary’s letter.

To add punch to the argument, officials privately say that irrigation minister’s keenness in the ‘new canal’ has more to do with its ability to irrigate vast swathes of land he owns.

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