Addressing the state assembly on the opening day of its budget session here this afternoon, Pahadia said, "Haryana is a water deficit state as the availability of water is less than half of the total requirement."
"This problem is further aggravated firstly by the fact that the state is not getting its legitimate share in Ravi-Beas rivers (in Punjab) and secondly due to non-linking of BML-Hansi Branch-Butana Branch Multipurpose Link Channel with Bhakra Main Line," he said.
The dispute between Haryana and Punjab over the sharing of waters from the Ravi, Beas rivers arose after the reorganisation of Punjab in November 1966 when the two states were carved out as successor states.
The water share of Haryana from Ravi, Beas was adjudicated under the Punjab Settlement (Rajiv Longowal accord, 1985), but later in 2004 the Amarinder Singh led Congress government passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 on which a Presidential reference is pending before the Supreme Court.
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Out of the total 18.28 MAF (million acre feet) of water, Haryana was to get 3.83 MAF and the share of other states was Punjab 5.00 MAF, Rajasthan 8.60 MAF, Delhi 0.20 MAF and Jammu and Kashmir 0.65 MAF.
As far as the second dispute is concerned Haryana has constructed the Hansi-Butana canal in its territory for carrying Bhakra Main Line (BML) water to areas in south of the state by linking its canal with the BML in Kaithal district, but the linking has been stayed after Punjab Government approached the Supreme Court some time back.
"The government is committed to ensure that Haryana gets its due share of water from all inter-state river agreements," Pahadia stressed.