CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh is well known for making water an issue except for the relevant provisions of the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966. In other words, the chief minister had disowned the Indian government’s 1976 notification seeking to apportion Punjab rivers water among Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi without the authority of any law, the interstate river waters agreement of 1981, the provisions of the Rajiv Longowal accord of 1985 and the so-called decision of the Eradi tribunal get up under the accord in 1987.
Beant Singh, according to informed sources, had been prompted to take the stand by the Indian prime minister’s secretariat through the Punjab chief secretary. ‘This stand came to Haryana as a danger to its ambitions to get Punjab’s water through the, YL. Eanal. Haryana is already getting a lot of Punjab water through the Bhakra Mainline canal against which the people of Punjab had been expressing their strong resentment from time to time, with the support of the anti-Sikh Nehru dynasty, Haryana’s politicians devised a plan to gain at the expense of Punjab through the notorious Rajiv Longowal accord.
Corrupt Sikh politicians, too, lent a helping hand in the execution of these schemes. This accord was sold to the innocent Sikh masses as a great boon to Punjab a sit effectively linked the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab in exchange for the construction of S.Y.L. canal and transfer of free water forever to Haryana.
The main stumbling block in the way of the implementation of these schemes was militants who were determined not to permit Sikh politicians to carry out their games. With this force turning weak, the ‘Akali groups are practically conniving at with the anti-Sikh lobby and are willing to resurrect the Rajiv Longowal accord. Significantly, the prime minister at one stage had seen the writing on the wall and had reconciled to the idea of abandoning the Rajiv Longowal accord and had adroitly persuaded Beant Singh to defend Punjab’s interests.
Natural disposition of Congress(1) leaders in Punjab it being a Hindu party is to let Punjab’s natural resources like water and power (o be transferred to other Hindu states, Now after the militancy has been weakened and the Congress(1) has won from the Hindu majority Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency, new songs are being sung. The chief minister has suddenly gone back on his stand taken in the letter to the prime minister. After meeting Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal at Chandigarh early this week Beant Singh has said that Punjab’s water flowing on July 1, 1985 should be protected.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 18, 1993
