Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on July 16 hit out at the AAP leadership for blaming his State over floods in parts of Delhi, saying the finger-pointing is neither in the interest of humanity, state or the country.
AAP leaders have alleged the BJP-led government in Haryana released excessive water from the Hathnikund barrage which flooded the Yamuna river, with water flowing onto the streets and roads of the national capital.
Speaking to reporters in Rohtak, Mr. Khattar said they cannot defame Haryana with such allegations. Haryana can do 'sewa' (serve), but can never think of causing harm to anyone else, he said.
"This blame game is not good. It is neither in the interest of humanity, nor State or the country," he said. "It can never occur to anyone to cause harm to someone to protect himself. Only a mean-minded person can do this," said Mr. Khattar.
Haryana has said Hathnikund barrage does not have a mechanism to store large volumes of water like a reservoir, and if water is held in the barrage beyond a permissible limit, a "bigger damage" could be caused.
Mr. Khattar said many districts of Haryana are also adversely affected by the water, and asked can it be that "we will drown our districts first and then Delhi".
"It is like hum to dubenge sanam, tumko bhi le dubenge [we will drown, and will take you along]," he said in a lighter vein.
He said his government too had to evacuate many villages. "Our Karnal, Sonipat, Panipat, Faridabad and Palwal were affected [due to the rise in Yamuna waters.]" The AAP has also alleged that the gates of the ITO barrage in Delhi maintained by the Haryana government had jammed due to silt accumulation. The party demanded its maintenance should be handed over to the Delhi government for more efficient management.
On Saturday, Mr. Khattar formed a two-member fact-finding committee to look into the jammed gates of the ITO barrage. "We checked our records. For its maintenance, money never went from Haryana. That was given by the Indraprastha power plant till 2018 which is shut now," Khattar said.
“When the plant was shut in 2018, the AAP govt never said this problem could come, said Khattar. They are talking about it now, when the problem arose.” Two years ago 6.5-7 lakh cusecs of water was released from Hathnikund barrage in a regulated manner, he said.
"On July 11 this year, 3.69 lakh cusecs of water was released. And it spread to six-seven Haryana districts before reaching Delhi, yet they [the AAP dispensation] failed to take out the remaining water in Delhi. This means they did not maintain Yamuna. Unauthorised construction on Yamuna blocked water flow," he said.
"We have set up a committee and said check their systems including Okhla, ITO and encroachments on Yamuna," said Mr. Khattar.
Mr. Khattar also took a veiled dig at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for asking if States like Haryana and Himachal Pradesh will take excess water as many parts of Punjab were submerged now.
Without naming him directly, Mr. Khattar said the Punjab Chief Minster was a comic before becoming a politician, but it does not behove him to make such "jokes" now.
Mr. Khattar also said had the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) been constructed and made operational, Punjab would have not seen the from adverse impact of flooding.
"Did the water not flow in half constructed SYL? It overflowed and affected Ambala and Kurukshetra because of half built SYL. But we did not blame them [Punjab]," he said, adding, "Haryana does not do politics over natural calamity." Haryana also meets Delhi's water needs, Mr. Khattar said.
"Their share is 750 cusecs, but even today we are giving them 1,070 cusecs. The Supreme Court had said the Delhi government will pay for the additional water supplied. But see the Delhi government's shamelessness they are not paying for this 320 cusecs," said Mr. Khattar.
