CHANDIGARH: The Punjab unit of the Bharitya Kisan Union called off its 15day old agitation at Chandigarh after obtaining a few assurances from the Punjab government about their demands.
These assurances pertained to waiving off of loans up to Rs 10000, removal of octroi levy on certain crops and enhancement of the number of new tube well connections by the Punjab State Electricity Board.
On the crucial issue of S.Y.L. canal stoppage issue, the B.K.U. leadership was virtually tricked by the pro-Haryana-Rajasthan officers of Punjab when they made the B.K.U. leaders agree to recognize Punjab’s rivers as “interstate rivers”, the assurance given was that Punjab farmers would get adequate supplies from “interstate” sources of water and power.
Interestingly, the agitation was called off hours after the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement on the revival of the Assembly. It tended to confirm the charge that the/BKU agitation in Chandigarh was engineered by the center to coincide with and to provide parallel political focus when Delhi was planning limits own strategy for Punjab. Delhi had employed a similar strategy on the eve of the operation Bluestar.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990
