Panjab Assembly Passes Resolutions on Key River Water Issues

November

2026

Panjab Water Resources Minister, Barinder Kumar Goyal, moved five river water-related resolutions on 27 Oct in the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Assembly passed the resolutions, which asserted the state’s rights over its river waters. Goyal argued that Panjab, which faces increasing pressure on its groundwater resources and has substantial agricultural water requirements of its own, should not be expected to supply water to Rajasthan free of cost when the latter even earns revenue from it. He said that Rajasthan is not a riparian state and should pay for the water it receives. The resolution called upon the Rajasthan government and the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (Water Resources) to acknowledge the liability, ensure annual payments, and settle the cost of the water supplied. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann pegged the state’s outstanding royalty claim at USD 15B. Another resolution challenged Section 79(1)(c) of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, under which the control of the Ropar, Harike, and Ferozepur irrigation headworks was assigned to the Bhakra Beas Management Board. CM Mann said, 'Water is a state subject, and the control of headworks rests with the states.' Yet another resolution asserted Panjab’s historical and legal claim to the waters of river Yamuna, which flowed through undivided Panjab before the state’s reorganization in 1966. Goyal also mentioned that no water was released to Pakistan from Madhopur headworks, adding that flood flow across the border came largely from rivers and streams originating in Jammu and Kashmir that join the river Ravi downstream. The AAP government had agreed to pass some of these resolutions after discussions with leaders of farmer unions Samyukt Kisan Morcha and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) earlier in 2026. These resolutions signal a major political outreach by AAP to the farming community, while bringing the politically sensitive issue of river-water sharing to the forefront of political debate ahead of the upcoming 2027 Assembly elections. However, on 16 Nov 2016, the then Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government had also passed a resolution seeking royalty for water supplied to non-riparian states. CM Mann also pointed out that his government is strengthening the state’s own irrigation network, expanding canal water access from 22% to 80% of fields in four years, and laying 14K km of underground pipelines (earlier coverage).