Satya Prakash
New Delhi, August 21
The Supreme Court has ordered the governments of Punjab and Haryana to implement the measures recommended by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, to resolve the problem of over-flooding of Ghaggar Basin that adversely affected farmers in 25 villages in the two states.
“In view of the above, now, the concerned State Governments are required to act appropriately and in time-bound manner as per the recommendations made in the final Model Study Report by CWPRS, Pune, so that the problem of over-flooding of Ghaggar basin to the detriment of 25 villages, which has remained unresolved for last many years can be resolved,” a Bench led by Justice MR Shah said in its August 17 order.
“Therefore, we direct the concerned States to take appropriate steps in terms of the recommendations made in the final Model Study Report submitted by CWPRS, Pune and to take all corrective measures as suggested/recommended,” it said.
The Bench noted that the recommendations made by CWPRS — in the form of Mathematical Model Study (MMS) ndash; have been sent to the states of Punjab and Haryana and have also been considered by the Ghaggar Standing Committee (GSC).
In its 32nd meeting held on October 12 last year, the GSC discussed the final model study report that recommended “widening of river from 60m-90m at some feasible reaches along with limiting water level rise to 2 m at both banks by constructing embankments, in model study report is an optimal solution and needs to be adopted by State Governments.”
The top court asked the stakeholders concerned to hold periodic meetings every four weeks to discuss the progress on implementation of the recommendations.
The GSC shall send a report after receiving all further information from the states concerned on implementation of the recommendations every three months to the Central Water Commission which in turn will submit a report to the court, the Bench said, posting the matter for further hearing on November 19.
