early times report
Jammu, Jan 20: Minister for Sports and Medical Education Taj Mohiuddin today rued non-payment of compensation by the Punjab government to Jammu and Kashmir government on account of land used for Ranjit Sagar Dam by the former.
The issue was discussed at a gathering of top engineers and socio-political leaders here who opined that by not honoring the agreement, Punjab has inflicted loss of thousands of crores to J&K state during the last more than 30 years.
Taj said that Jammu and Kashmir cannot wait till eternity for getting its due share of Ravi river waters from Punjab. "The only way the state can get its legitimate share is by the construction of an alternative canal to draw waters from the Ranjit Sagar dam reservoir," he said.
The Minister added that it was a dream project for him on which he slogged, day in and day out. "The project can be completed in the next three to four years if the hitches being created within the government by some ministers are sorted out," he added.
Taj said the legal opinion rendered by an eminent lawyer from Supreme Court, Amarendra Sharan has been in favour of Jammu and Kashmir. "Later, former Chief Justice of India V N Khare also said that J&K should not suffer endlessly and draw waters from the Ranjit Sagar dam," he added.
The opinion by Sharan was given on October 12, 2009 and was received on November 24, 2009. However, years later, now because of objections from the Finance Department headed by Abdul Rahim Rather, a fresh legal opinion is being sought from Attorney-General of India.
For this, the Attorney-General of India will charge Rs 4.4 lakh and the report may take several months to arrive. This was a barely concealed reference to the negative role allegedly being played by Rather in stalling the project.
Taj said that his successor, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sham Lal Sharma has promised to pick up threads of his "dream" project in the days to come.
Sharma said that it was about time this rightful share of Ravi river waters is given to Jammu and Kashmir. "No opposition will be brooked for getting this legitimate right and the share will start reaching the parched fields of kandi belt from Kathua to Jammu," he said and added it will be his endeavour to make J&K self-sufficient in food grain production by bringing in Ravi waters which Punjab has wrongly deprived so far.
According to 1979 agreement signed by then Chief Ministers of J&K and Punjab, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Surjeet Singh Barnala, respectively, Punjab had to pay share of 1,100 cusecs of water, 20 per cent of the electricity, and 15 per cent of the jobs the project would generate to Jammu and Kashmir.
However, Punjab is yet to honor the promise. The Dam is located on river Ravi near Thein village and straddles the border of Punjab and J&K about 24 km upstream of Madhopur.
J&K provided about 40 per cent of land for the project but hasn't been paid anything in return. On the other hand, Himachal Pradesh, which provided five to six per cent of land for the project, is getting its share of the electricity.
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