'Badal should wait till S C decides on Ravi-Beas dispute' : Soz

New Delhi, Mar 05 (UNI) The Centre today asked Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal to wait for Supreme Court's decision on Ravi Beas water dispute before taking any step in a hurry.

Asked for his comments on Mr Badal's statement made at Anandpur Sahib that Punjab would further amend the Act that terminated river waters sharing agreements in 2004, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said all he could tell the new Chief Minister was that he should await the Apex Court's decision on the issue. "Once the decision is there, the Centre and the concerned states can sit and discuss in calm and peaceful atmosphere and take a considered decision", he said adding that there was set norms for sharing river waters applying the principles of equity and justice.

Mr Badal was quoted as saying that his government would scrap Section 5 of the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004-- which allows sharing of water with Haryana and Rajasthan--in the next Assembly session as per its election promise.

The Ministry is concerned about the events unfolding after Mr Badal's statement as the Executive and the Judiciary would have to work in harmony and resolve inter-state water disputes in an amicable manner. "The rivers belong to the nation and no state should feel that they have a right over the waters", sources said.

Turning to Cauvery, where political parties in Tamil Nadu have urged Centre to notify the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, Prof Soz said that the Centre will have to follow prescribed norms for notifying the Order. The riparian states still have time to clear their doubts and clarifications with the CWDT upto 90 days and the Tribunal will have one year to come out with their clarifications. The process of notification comes after this, he said.

About the Prime Minister's package to 31 districts of four states where there was a high incidence of farmer's suicides, Prof Soz said things had started to move in a positive direction.

Many of the proposals from the Maharashtra Government have been cleared under Aceelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme. The government was expecting proposals from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala too, he said. Once the clearances are in place funds would flow and it would take three years to make these projects a reality.

He said tackling the irrigation problems was the only way to face the the food security challenge posed by the growing population. The food production will have to touch 400 million tonnes a year to feed 1.6 billion population by 2050, Mr SOZ hoted.

UNI