S. Ptitam Singh Kumedan is an expert on Water issues. He is consulted by SAD, Congrss and AAP leaders before they make a statement on water issue. Since there is recent controversy on Punjab waters, I requested him to enlighten us. He v kindly obliged- Jagpal Singh Tiwana
VALUE OF WATER GIVEN TO Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi
(Rs. 11.75 Lakh Crores due from Rajasthan and Rs. 7.05 Lakh Crores due from Haryana)
Resolution of Punjab Vidhan Sabha
On 16.11.2016, Punjab Vidhan Sabha passed a Resolution, directing Punjab Government to immediately take up the matter regarding, claiming value/cost of water supplied by Punjab to the non-riparian States of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi over the last 50 years and to write to the Central Government, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi in this regard.
Punjab’s Constitutional and Legal Rights over Ravi, Beas and Satluj Waters
Punjab’s basic stand and contention in River-Water disputes always has been, that;
(i) As per provisions of Constitution of India, Punjab has sovereign rights and is the absolute owner of the waters of rivers Ravi, Beas and Satluj.
(ii) All Orders and Notifications etc. issued by the Central Government allocating about 2 crores acre-feet of water (20 MAF) to non-riparian States of Rajasthan (11.2 MAF), Haryana (7.8 MAF) and Delhi (0.2 MAF) are Unconstitutional and Illegal and null and void.
Note: M.A.F. Million acre-feet = 10 lakh acre feet water
Acre-foot = One foot deep water in one acre land.
Cusec = Cubic foot per second
One cusec water flowing for 24 hours would deliver= 2 acre feet water
(iii) Also that as a result of these unconstitutional orders, Punjab has suffered huge financial losses and had to pump-out enormous quantities of underground water, as a result of which water-level in Punjab has gone down alarmingly.
(iv) Also that even in these unconstitutional and illegal orders/notifications/agreements, it is nowhere provided/mentioned that these non-riparian States would get water from Punjab as a gift or free of cost, which fact naturally implies that they have to pay for this water to Punjab. The only question remaining to be settled is, how much these non-riparian States have to pay for this water to Punjab, and;
(v) That, throughout history, except for some brief periods, Haryana (and also Rajasthan and Delhi) has never been a part of the land of five-rivers- ‘The Punjab’. It was tagged with unwilling Punjab by the British in 1858 and now while departing in 1966, it can take back, only that much which, it had brought to Punjab in 1858 and cannot take away its natural resources.
Brief History
After defeating, the Marathas in 1803, the British occupied Delhi and adjoining districts of Gurgaon, Rohtak, Hissar and Panipat etc. and attached all these districts and Delhi to the Bengal Presidency. Then, on the formation (out of Bengal Presidency) of a new separate province of U.P. (then called North-West province) in 1833, all these districts of Haryana plus Delhi were detached from Bengal Presidency and made a part of U.P. in 1836.
Punjab was annexed to British India in 1849 and made a separate province. After the mutiny of 1857, all these areas of Haryana and Delhi were again detached from U.P. and tagged to unwilling Punjab in 1858. Punjab’s plea is that on separating from Punjab in 1966, Haryana can lay claim to and take away only that much which it had brought to Punjab in 1858, or it can claim a share in jointly created moveable assets, but cannot claim, and has absolutely no legal right to claim, a share in natural resources of Punjab i.e. Water.
Financial and other losses of Punjab
As a result of giving about 2 Crore acre-feet of river water to the non-riparian States of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, during the last 50 years, Punjab has suffered huge financial and other losses:
(i) Punjab needs about 55 MAF water annually for agricultural purposes. While it is getting about 25 MAF rain and canal water, it has to pump out more than 25 MAF underground water to fill the gap. Had the Central Government not allotted about 2-crore acre-feet water to non-riparian States of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, the necessity of pumping out that much underground water would not have arisen.
(ii) To pump out 25 MAF underground water, Punjab had to sink 14 lakh tube-wells,70% of which have now been converted into sub-mercible tubewells. The necessity of boring and operating 14 lakh tube-wells would not have arisen, if 2 crore acre-feet water had not been given to non-riparian States.
(iii) Every year about 15-20 thousand tube-wells are being replaced by sub-mercibles and the cost of a sub-mercible tube-well is about Rs. 3 to 5 lakhs. One of the main causes of Punjab farmers’ huge indebtedness and resultant suicides is the huge expenditure on sub-mercible tube-wells.
(iv) Punjab has to use annually 1050 crore units of electricity worth more than Rs. 5500 thousand Crores to operate these 14 lakh tube-wells to pump-out 25 MAF underground water. As electricity for tube-wells is free of cost, Punjab Government has to pay this amount to PSPCL from its own resources. Had this much free electricity been used in industries, Punjab would have become the most industrialized State in India.
(v) As a result of pumping out enormous quantities of underground water for the past 50 years, water-table in Punjab has gone down to dangerous levels and it may take many Centuries to come to the original level.
(vi) While the non-riparian States are getting flow-water of rivers, Punjab, the owner of this water, has perforce to resort to pumping underground water and spend annually billions of units of electricity for that.
(vi) As per reports and warnings of NASA(National Aeronautical and Space Administration), International Specialized Agencies, Central Water Power Commission and other Indian Authorities, if the drawl of underground water in Punjab continues at this alarming rate, the time is not far off, when Punjab will become a desert and will have to face problems of drinking water even.
(vii) While reorganizing a State, river-water is never divided because, water goes with the land (‘see Servai’s Constitutional Law of India’) and if a State becomes non-riparian of any river, it ceases to get any water.
Here is a Precedent:-
Annual average flow of water in river Godavri is 10 Crore acre-feet and that of river Krishna is 6 Crore acre-feet (against only 3.25 Crore acre-feet of all three Punjab rivers), which flowed through the composite State of Madras.
When Andhra State was carved out of Madras State in 1953, these two rivers came to flow only through Andhra State only and Madras State became a non-riparian State and water of these rivers was not divided between Madras State and Andhra State and therefore, not a drop of water was given to Madras State out of these rivers. Similarly as Andhra became a non-riparian of the river Cauvery it did not get any water from that river because it ceased to be a riparian of that river. Similar is the case of other re-organized States where river-water was never divided. However, in the case of Punjab, the non-riparian State of Haryana has been given huge share in Punjab rivers.
(ix) Punjab is the only State not only in India but in the whole World where non-riparian States have been given water and in fact non-riparian States of Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi have been given millions of acre-feet of water worth billions of rupees, free of any charge.
(x) Punjab has to spend annually 650 Crore units of electricity, valued at about Rs. 3500 Crores, for supplying 16.2 MAF (1.62 Crore) water to non-riparian States. Had Punjab given these 650 Crore units of electricity annually to industry either free of cost or at nominal rates and/or subsedised the interest on loans of big industries, Punjab would have attracted industries from all over the world and would have become industrial hub of India.
(xi)Why make Deserts blooming Gardens
It is commonly believed that Rajasthan thought of constructing Rajasthan Canal only after the Central Government decided in the meeting held on 29-01-1955, to allot 80 lakh acre-feet Ravi-Beas Water to Rajasthan. This, however, is not the case. In fact, the Central Government had decided to give water to Rajasthan much earlier in 1948-49 even when there was no Agreement at all. The fact is that when in 1949, Punjab Government, submitted a plan for sanctioning the construction of Harike Headworks, the Central government insisted that sanction would be given only if amendment is made in the plan and a provision is made for 18,500 cusec Head for Rajasthan Canal. Punjab had to do this under duress, and Harike Headworks was completed in 1952, which duly provided a Head for 18,500 cusec Canal for Rajasthan.
Not only that, Government of India then sought the advice of World – renowned U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, regarding construction of Rajasthan canal and consequences thereof. After four years intensive study, the Bureau advised the Central Govt. in 1954 that, ‘for God-sake don’t construct this canal and don’t take this water to the sand-dunes of Rajasthan and that, it would be much more beneficial to use this water nearer the rivers in Punjab. No heed was, however, paid to the advice of this top-most expert Agency and the Central Government decided to proceed with, the World’s one of the biggest and longest, 680 km-long Rajasthan Canal upto Jaisalmer. It is time, that expert advice is heeded, and Punjab’s water returned which has been illegally snatched from Punjab.
Water- a very Valuable commodity
Water as we know, is a very scarce and a very valuable commodity. Prof. Aloys A. Michael, of Yale University, U.S.A. in his monumental work, ‘The Indus Rivers’, says, “As in most sub-humid regions of the earth, water in the Indus-basin is more valuable than land. Had it not been for the irrigation net-work developed after annexation of Sind and Punjab to British India in the 1840s, much of what now is the economic heart of West Pakistan, would have remained essentially a desert”.
This aptly applies to Rajasthan and Haryana also. It is Punjab’s water which has made Rajasthan-desert upto Jaisalmer, a blooming garden.
Fresh water is becoming so scarce all over the World and situation is becoming so alarming that political analysts predict that all future wars in the 21st Centaury would be fought over water.
NASA and some other specialized International Agencies have been issuing repeated warnings that fresh underground water is being pumped out in some parts of India, particularly in Punjab, at such an alarming rate that there is fear of these areas becoming deserts and there may be scarcity of even drinking water in the near future.
Value of Water
Some years back, in my two letters dated 28.12.2008 and 17.10.2009, I had brought to the notice of Chief Minister, Punjab, that, whereas, Rajasthan is annually getting about one-crore acre-feet flow-water through canals from Punjab, we in Punjab, have to pump-out that quantity of 10 M.A.F. under-ground water by 14 lakh tube-wells, spending annually about 400 Crore units of Electricity valued at Rs. 2000 crores. I had then requested that we should claim Rs. 5.60 lakh crores as value of 40-Crore acre-feet of water supplied to Rajathan over a period of 40 years and Rs. 80 thousand Crores for electricity used for pumping-out that quantity of underground water. Chief Minister instructed, the then Advocate General (H. S. Mattewal) and Principal Secretary Irrigation, Punjab to discuss the matter with me. Accordingly, they after discussing the matter with me, asked our legal team in Supreme Court to discuss it with me. I had three lengthy meetings with our legal team in Delhi but as they had to give priority to our SYL case, the matter remained dormant. I had at that time made my calculations regarding value of water on the basis of a Press-note issued by C.W.P.C. team at Madhopur in 2008.
Value per acre-foot of Water
Now we come to the moot question of total value of water supplied to the non-riparian States of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. For this we have to first find out the value of one acre-foot of water.
Value per acre-foot of Water worked out by C.W.P.C.
In 2008, a Central Water Power Commission team, after inspecting Madhopur Headworks observed that due to old and rusty gates of Heasworks, about 100 Cusecs water leaks daily from these gates and goes waste to Pakistan and that the annual value of this water was Rs. 100 Crores i.e. Rs. One Crore for one cusec daily for one year.
One cusec X 24 hours = 1.98 acre foot and for 365 days it comes to 722.7 acre-feet and Rs. 1 Crore -:- 722.7 = Rs. 13838/-
Or say Rs. 14000/- as the value of one acre-foot of water.
In the context of Rajasthan, in order to know the value of one acre-foot of water, we may find out;
How much is the yield per acre of a particular crop, say Bajra, from Barani land and its market value?
How much can be the yield per acre of a particular crop, say wheat, or cotton, irrigated by one acre-foot of water (= 3 inch deep + 4 irrigations as per PAU recommendations) and its market value?
After making some allowance for fertilizers etc. the difference between the market value of the two crops will give us the value of one acre-foot of water.
Average yield per Acre of Bajra and Jowar in Rajasthan and its Market value
As per Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, in 2012-13, total area under Bajra in Rajasthan was 3989 thousand hectares (= about one Crore Acres) and its total produce was 38,76,000 Tonnes, which gives us an average yield of 972 kg per hectare or say 3.89 quintals per acre.
Area under Jowar was 6,80,000 hectares (=17 lakh acres) and its total produce was 4,20,000 tonnes giving an average yield of 618 kg per hectare or 2.47 quintals per acre.
(Leaving aside Jowar), Minimum Support Price of Bajra fixed for 2016-17 is Rs. 1330 per quintal and thus the value of 3.89 quintals Bajra comes to Rs. 5173/-
Average yield per acre of wheat in Ganga nagar District of Rajasthan and its value
Average yield per acre of wheat in Ganga Nagar district of Rajasthan is almost the same as in Bathinda district of Punjab.
In Bathinda district in 2013-14 average yield of wheat per acre was about 20 quintals per acre, and in the case of Ganga nagar district also yield per acre was/is about 20 quintals, Minimum Support Price of wheat fixed for 2016-17 is Rs. 1625/- per quintal.
The total value of 20 quintal of wheat @ Rs. 1625/- per quintal comes to Rs. 32,500/-. Deducting therefrom, Rs. 4000/- on account of fertilizes, pesticides etc. we get net Rs. 28,500/- as the value of 20 quintals of wheat from one acre in Ganga Nagar district of Rajasthan.
We have calculated above that the value of Bajra crop raised without water is about Rs. 5000/- per acre and the net value of alternate wheat crop raised with the application of one acre foot of water is about Rs. 28500/-. The difference between the two (28500-5000) i.e. Rs. 23,500/- is the net contribution or value added by one-acre foot of water to the produce and Rs. 23,500/- is, therefore, the value of one acre-foot of water.
Total Value of water supplied to Rajasthan
Rajastan has been allocated 11.2 MAF water (=1.12 crore Acre Feet) [8.6 MAF for Rajasthan canal, 1.1 MAF for Bikaner Canal and 1.5 MAF share from Bhakra]. However, we are making calculations on the basis of round figure of 10 MAF (1 Crore Acre Feet) per year only.
During the last 50 years, we have supplied about 50 Crore Acre-feet water to Rajasthan. The total value of this water @ Rs. 23,500/- per acre-foot would thus come to
= 50 Crores X 23,500 = Rs.11.75 lakh Crores
(ii) And @ Rs. 14000 per acre foot value of C.W.P.C. it will be
50 crores X 14000 = Rs. 7 lakh crores.
Value of water supplied to Haryana
Although Haryana has been allocated 7.88 MAF water from Punjab rivers (4.38 for Bhakra Canal + 3.5 MAF for SYL Canal). They have actually been using about 6 MAF acre-feet water per year. The total water supplied to them over the last 50 years, thus come to 300 MAF (30 Crore acre feet). The total value of water supplied to Haryana during the last 50 years will be as under;
@ Rs. 23500/- per acre foot
= 60,00,000 X 50 X 23500 = Rs. 7.05 Lakh Crores
And on the basis of C.W.P.C. valuation it will be;
60 Lakhs X 50 X 14000 = Rs. 4.2 Lakh Crores.
Value of water supplied to Delhi
Punjab has supplied annually 2 Lakh Acre feet of water to Delhi for the last 40 years for drinking purposes. On the basis of Rs. 23,500 per acre foot and Rs. 14,000/- per acre foot the value of water supplied to Delhi will be
2,00,000 X 40 X 23500 = Rs. 18,800 Crores and
2,00,000 X 40 X 14000 = Rs. 11,200 Crores
Any layman will get surprised seeing these fantastic and astronomical figures regarding value of water. However, it is clarified that valuation per acre foot of water has been worked out in consultation with the experts of Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana. This is only the value of water and not that whole of it is to be realized from the concerned State Governments. This is value of the loss which Punjab has suffered. It is for the Punjab Government to decide how much it would like to claim from these non-riparian States.
Electricity consumed for Pumping-out ground water supplied to non-riparian States.
Punjab requires about 55 MAF (5.5. Crore acre-feet) water every year for agriculture. As we get only about 25 MAF or so, from canals and rains, we have to pump out 25 MAF ground water to fill the gap. Out of this 25 MAF, about one-half is replenished through rains and percolation and the rest about 12 MAF or so is the net irreplaceable loss of underground water pumped out, as a result of which water level in Punjab is going down every year.
Punjab is giving One Crore acre-feet river water to Rajasthan, 60 Lakh acre-feet to Haryana and 2 Lakh acre-feet to Delhi, that is, a total of 1.62 Crore acre feet every year for the last 50 years. Every year Punjab is pumping out 2.5 MAF (2.5 Crore acre feet) underground water by 14 lakh tube-wells which consume about 1050 Crore units of electricity every year. Had we not given annually 1.62 Crore acre feet river water to non riparian States, the necessity of pumping out that much water and spending billions of units of Electricity would not have arisen and there would not have been any net loss of underground water and the water-table would not have gone down.
Cost of Electricity
As per Punjab State Electricity Regularity Authority, electricity used for pumping out 2.5 Crore Acre feet underground water is about 1050 Crore units and cost thereof is about Rs. 5500 Crores annually. On that basis for pumping out 1 Crore acre feet water for Rajasthan, 400 Crore units of electricity are consumed. Similarly for Haryana it is 240 Crore units annually and for Delhi 8 Crore units. And @ Rs. 5/- per unit;
Rajasthan has to pay = 400 crore X 50 X 5 = Rs. 1 Lakh crore
Haryana has to pay = 240 crore X 50 X 5 = Rs. 60 thousand Crores
And Delhi has to pay = 8 crore X 40 X 5 = Rs. 1600 Crores
Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal
It is commonly believed that although Haryana has been allocated 3.5 MAF (35 lakh acre-feet) water for SYL canal, it is not getting any water as per this allocation. This is, however, not the case. Out of 3.5 MAF, Haryana is already getting 1.62 MAF since day one. This they are carrying via Bhakra canal which has got that much spare capacity to carry. It is for carrying the remaining 1.88 MAF (18.8 Lakh acre feet) water that SYL has to be constructed. Court battles between Punjab and Haryana are being fought only over this 1.88 MAF, for the last 50 years. When politicians in Punjab say that, “we will not allow even a drop of water to go out of Punjab to non-riparian States”, they unknowingly and unwillingly refer to this 1.88 MAF water and not to 2-crore acre feet water lost by Punjab.
It is unfortunate that instead of fighting for 2-crore acre feet (20 MAF) water going to non-riparian States, we in Punjab have wasted time, energy, money and made sacrifices only for 1.88 MAF (18.8 lakh acre feet) water. We have confined our court-battles to save only this much water. It is very rare that we have ever demanded back our 2-Crore acre feet water from non-riparian States. It is due to the prejudice and may be anti-Punjab attitude of the Central Government, that they have always cleverly avoided saying even a single word about the legal rights of non-riparian States in Punjab waters although Constitutional provisions in this regard are quite clear and favour Punjab. The Central Government has obviously succeeded in restricting and restraining Punjab, for the last 50 years, to fight Court battles over 18 lakh acre feet of water only. Even if we win SYL case, it will be a small victory. It is time Punjab fights over getting back its 2 Crore acre-feet water, over the losses it has suffered and for the amounts due to it from non-riparian states and to get back all our water illegally, unconstitutionally and wrongfully allocated to non-riparian States.
SOLUTIONS
Waving off Punjab Loans
As the Central Government was (intentionally or unintentionally), the main wrong-doer, violator of Constitutional provisions, and inflictor of enormous losses on Punjab, it will mainly be the Central Government which shall have to pay to Punjab for its losses. The benefit-receiving non-riparian States will of course also have to pay their share. As settlement of the whole problem due to enormous amounts involved, is likely to take somewhat long time, as a first step, therefore, the Central Government should;
Waive off all loans of Punjab Government, Banking and non-Banking.
All loans of Punjab farmers, Banking and non-Banking, and of every other kind.
Give to Punjab industries old and new ones to be setup, every conceivable concession as given to Hill States including income-tax and excise relief etc. as per the demands and requirements of the industrialists and Punjab Government and adjust this amount against the amount due from Central Government.
so that Punjab Government and Punjab farmers and industrialists can start from a clean-State with new incentives.
The balance amount payable to Punjab, can be worked out subsequently by negotiations across the table.
The only favour, the Central Government and other non-riparian State Governments can do to Punjab is to settle everything, across the table, sitting along with some neutral top most jurists of India, and (hopefully) not compelling Punjab to go to Courts of Law.
It is again repeated and submitted again that,
Central Government is once again reminded that it is the result of boring deep submercible tube-wells, each costing Rs. 3 to 5 lakhs, that the farmers of Punjab are under heavy debts. In the absence of these sub-mercibles and resultant debts, Punjab farmers would have been the happiest of the whole lot. It is this unbearable debt burden which has compelled so many Punjab farmers to commit suicide.
If Punjab continues to supply 2 Crore acre-feet river-water to the above said non-riparian States, as per NASA warning, the day is not far off, when Punjab will become a desert and there would be great difficulty even in getting drinking water. The only solution is, getting our water back from non-riparian States. The Central Government should give its valuable and golden advice regarding Diversification of Crops to non-riparian States. It is also requested that during a transitional period of 5 years or so, the States concerned with the help of Central Govt., should make their own alternate arrangements from other alternate sources.
(P. S. Kumedan)
P.C.S. (Retd.)
Dated: 06-01-2017 # 2028, Phase-X, S.A.S. Nagar
M – 9417150161
Email: ps.kumedan@gmail.com