CHANDIGARH: The SYL canal issue is in the news again, Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and the Haryana chief minister had a Meeting last week to discuss interstate matters. Beant Singh later made a public statement saying that he found no harm if SYL canal is built in Punjab. He also hinted at the possibility of Chandigarh’s meager into Punjab, Bhajan Lal also joined issue with Beant Singh. In a statement, he said that the question of Chandigarh and SYL canal were interconnected and that the two issues could not be separated. In fact, Beant Singh said that the Punjab government would resume construction of the canal. To this Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal reacted strongly, He led a deputation to meet Punjab governor Surinder Nath and asked him to stop the chief minister from resuming work on the controversial project because it will lead to making Punjab a desert. Punjab had no surplus water for any state; He later addressed a press conference. Badal gave a” ‘strong warning” to the Punjab government on the issue. Badal received support from Surinder Singh Kairon, a Congress (1) M.P. who called upon the Punjab government to fill up the already built sections of the canal. Kairon said that the half built canal was a symbol of discrimination against Punjab’s peasantry. The project stood out as the death knell of the aspirations of Punjab, Kairon said Punjab’s 13 lakh acre land would become barren if the canal was built. Punjab had full right to the rivers of the State in terms Of riparian principles applied in respect of all other states except for Punjab. Kairon said that the only Punjab minister who had been championing the interests of Punjab and its farmers is Harcharan Singh Brar. Conspiracies arte being hatched to takeaway irrigation and power department from him to pave the way for the resumption of work on the canal.
Beant Singh dismissed Kairon’s Statement by merely stating that he is closely related to Parkash Singh Badal. The chief minister denied any secret deal with his Haryana counterpart or with the central government, His government’s stand is that all interstate agreements should be annulled and that Punjab should not get less water than what it was getting on July 1, 1985. The chief minister also said that Badal during his chief minister ship had accepted Rs 1 crore from Haryana for building the SYL canal and that he could not go back on the commitment. He, however, said that Badal’s demand that all interstate agreements should be scrapped was actually are petition of what the Congress (I) stood for.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 18, 1993
