Former CM Hooda calls the Punjab government's action of stopping Haryana's water as unconstitutional, unethical and inhuman

Rohtak, May 2, 2025: Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said that stopping Haryana's water by the Punjab government stopping Haryana's water is not only unconstitutional, but also immoral and inhuman.

“Punjab government has no right to stop Haryana's water. Doing so is an attack on the federal structure. Haryana is not begging but this is the state's share of water, the quantity of which was decided under a proper agreement between the two states,” he stated.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, he said the state government should also call a special session of the assembly, after an all-party meeting on the issue of water sharing. “Pressure should be put on the Punjab government to save Haryana from water crisis, but till now the BJP government has proved completely unsuccessful in taking Haryana's share of water. The people of the state may have to face a water crisis due to the incompetence of the BJP government,” he said.

“Despite repeated warnings by the Congress, the state government never paid attention to the issue of water sharing. Congress had also raised this issue in the assembly. Despite this, the BJP government remained asleep. Today, Punjab officials are sitting on all the big posts in BBMB and there is no one to advocate for the Haryana government. The state is now suffering the result of this,” he added.

Hooda said the state used to get its full share of water during the Congress government as the Congress used to ensure full participation of Haryana in the Bhakra Beas Management Board. “There were three members from Haryana in it. An officer of the irrigation department was appointed as a member of BBMB. The Congress government used to continuously appoint SDOs and junior engineers in the board,” he said.

The former Chief Minister pointed out that the Superintendent Engineer in the board should be from Haryana as per rules, but his appointment was not done during the BJP government. “When the people of Haryana are not on the board, then who will talk about our rights,” he asked.

Hooda said that since coming to power, BJP has not advocated Haryana's interests with full vigor. “Despite the Supreme Court's verdict in favour of Haryana on SYL, the government has not been able to get water till date. Despite BJP being in power for the third term in both the state and the Centre, BJP has maintained silence on SYL. Projects like SYL and Dadupur Nalvi were razed to the ground during the BJP tenure,” he pointed out.

Speaking on water logging in the mandis, Hooda said once again the farmer's wheat was destroyed by rain due to government negligence. “There has been a lack of lifting and due to this; a large amount of wheat is still lying in the mandis. The government did not even make arrangements for tarpaulin to protect it from rain. Therefore, this is the third consecutive time when unseasonal rain has wreaked havoc on wheat,” he noted.

Responding to a question on caste census, the former Chief Minister said caste census is necessary for social justice, this was why Congress, and its leader Rahul Gandhi raised this demand strongly from every platform. He said the BJP finally has had to bow down to Congress' demand. He said this is a victory of Rahul Gandhi's struggle for social justice.

Regarding the Pahalgam attack, Hooda said Congress has announced full support to the government for taking action against terrorism. It has also demanded that the security lapse be investigated so that such attacks can be prevented in future.