We will take Rajasthan’s water royalty issue to court: CM Bhagwant Mann

Punjab: A political tussle has erupted between Punjab and Rajasthan after the AAP government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, laid claim to royalties on the river water flowing from its territory into Rajasthan. On Wednesday, Mann demanded arrears amounting to ₹1.44 lakh crore from Rajasthan, dating back to 1960. However, Rajasthan’s BJP government asserted that the agreement forged during the British era is no longer relevant. The Chief Minister stated that he would take the matter to court, where the Rajasthan government could present its case. Rajasthan’s Water Resources Minister, Suresh Singh Rawat, noted that Punjab’s claim is predicated on an agreement signed with the princely state of Bikaner in 1920—an agreement that, he argued, is no longer legally valid.

The Punjab government has formally escalated the issue by sending a letter to Rajasthan. During the British Raj, on September 4, 1920, an agreement regarding water sharing was concluded in Shimla between the Maharaja of Bikaner, the Nawab of Bahawalpur, and the princely state of Punjab. Punjab contends that Rajasthan continued to pay water royalties until the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. Under the “Sutlej Valley Project of 1920,” the British administration levied a “water cess” of ₹6.50 per acre annually on the Maharaja of Bikaner in exchange for water, and began supplying water from the Hussainiwala Headworks in November 1927.