Punjab has reiterated before the Ravi and Beas Waters Tribunal that it cannot share any additional water from the Ravi and Beas with Haryana and Rajasthan, maintaining the two states are not in the basin area of these rivers.The stand was conveyed during the Punjab visit of the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Vineet Saran (Retd). The state government hosted the tribunal members and facilitated visits to key canal headworks in Ferozepur using a government helicopter.Punjab officials told the tribunal that only Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir fell within the basin area of the Ravi and Beas. Rajasthan, however, continues to receive 50 per cent of the river waters under the 1955 water-sharing agreement.Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann also met the tribunal members in Amritsar and is learnt to have emphasised the state’s efforts to maximise utilisation of available river waters. During a dinner meeting, Mann reportedly said the government was ensuring canal water reached farmers at the tail-end areas to reduce groundwater extraction and prevent desertification.Officials from the Water Resources Department are learnt to have presented Punjab’s historical case on river water sharing. They argued that before Partition, undivided Punjab had access to 176.37 million acre-feet (MAF) of water, which had now reduced to 15.14 MAF from the eastern rivers of the Indus river system after Partition and the reorganisation of states.Punjab officials also argued that the state was excluded from sharing Yamuna waters despite being part of the inter-state river system. Of the 15.85 MAF water in the Ravi and Beas rivers, Punjab received 4.22 MAF, while Rajasthan got 8.8 MAF and Haryana 3.5 MAF, they said. Officials further claimed Punjab received only 25 per cent of the surplus waters and had to abandon several canals because of inadequate water allocation.The tribunal members, who arrived in Amritsar earlier, also visited the Luther Canal system in Ferozepur. Officials showed them areas allegedly affected by pollution caused by effluents released from leather factories in Kasur, Pakistan. The delegation also visited Harike to inspect the Rajasthan feeder and Ferozepur feeder canals.