Water War between Punjab and Haryana

Much has been said and written about sharing of river waters between Punjab and Haryana from time to time since the reorganisation of the state of Punjab in 1966. Various agreements, accords, tribunals, commissions and water sharing formulas have been worked out time to time, but the problem still remains unsolved. Haryana is stressing for the completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link to carry its share of surplus Ravi-Beas water (3.5 million acre-feet) awarded to it in 1976, while Punjab argues that it has no surplus water to share with Haryana, and is adopting various measures to check this outflow of water. Such awards and agreements are generally politically-induced, and therefore, remain unimplemented. This study highlights the ground realities related to irrigation to evaluate the claims and counterclaims of both the states.