Punjab News: Punjab’s Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal today denied the statement given by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan for flood due to illegal mining in Punjab. He said that the floods came due to the rapid flow of water in the river due to record rains in the upper mountainous areas, not due to mining activities.
Addressing the press conference here, the cabinet minister described the allegations of the Union Minister as baseless and misleading. He said that instead of making political charge in this difficult time, all the attention should have been given relief to the affected families and rehabilitation.
The cabinet minister said that 14.11 lakh cusecs of water came to Ravi Darya in Punjab this year, which is more than 11.2 lakh cusecs of water recorded in 1988. He said that during the last two years, the Punjab government got the dams strengthened at a cost of more than Rs 200 crore, ensuring that the dams faced strong water pressure completely and there was no crack in the dams built by the department on Beas Dariya.
Describing the statement of the Union Minister as irrational, the cabinet minister clarified that the army and BSF. Due to the restrictions, mining activities are banned within five kilometers from the international border, due to which mining cannot be done in the Ravi river. Similarly, Beas river has already been declared a ‘safe area’, where mining is prohibited. He said that there is no mining activity in the Ghaggar river and mining has been taken only after the atmosphere permission from the sanctioned mining schemes and the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEAA) only after the atmosphere permission. He stressed that regulated mining activities in Punjab have no threat to the dams of the river and no mining activity is allowed within 100 meters from the dams of the river.
Completely rejecting the claims of the Union Minister, Mr. Barinder Kumar Goyal said that the only reason for the flood is excessive rainfall. He said that on August 25 alone, Chamba received 1205 percent more than normal, Kangra received 275 percent more rainfall and Pathankot received 820 percent more rainfall. He said that connecting such a natural disaster with illegal mining is serious injustice to the victims of Punjab.
Focusing on unnecessarily delaying the demands of Punjab to the Central Government, Mr. Barinder Kumar Goyal said that Punjab every year in the national interest, BSF. And spends crores of rupees to protect the soldiers of the army. He regretted that despite repeated appeals to the Chief Minister of Punjab and Chief Secretary, BSF. And the proposed schemes of Punjab are still pending with the Government of India to protect the important border posts of the army. He further said that NDMA Despite the theoretical approval by, only 19 of the 28 proposed works have been approved and we are still waiting for the fund to be released.
Strongly condemning the partisan attitude with Punjab at the behest of the Center of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), the Cabinet Minister said that in the Technical Committee meeting, Punjab clearly demanded 29,500 cusecs of water for irrigation due to the paddy sowing season in the month of June. In spite of repeated letters and appeals, Punjab was allotted only 21,000 cusecs of water, contrary to the prescribed rules, as it is mandatory to supply according to the demand of the partner state according to the rules. Mr. Goyal said that if Punjab was given a proper part of it, then our irrigation needs would also be met and the dams also have the ability to store extra water.
The cabinet minister insisted that the Bhakra Beas Management Board has been working on its own free will and when Punjab needs relief, it becomes silent and imposes its decisions on Punjab by putting pressure on. On the pending demand to control the flow of Ujj River in a Makaudi port on the Ravi river, the cabinet minister said that this project will increase irrigation, drinking water and water reserves facilities in the border areas. He said that Punjab has authority over bright water and detailed plans to this have already been submitted to the Central Water Commission.
He reiterated that this year’s floods are the result of heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, including the flow of Pakistan and the flow of local rivers. He said that yet the damage has reduced considerably due to the strength of the dams on time. Beas Darya also recorded a historic flow in Pong Dam, which is more than all records so far. Chief Engineer (Drainage) Mr. Hardeep Singh Mandiratta and Chief Engineer (Headquarters) Mr. Jitendra Pal Singh were also present on the occasion.
