CHANDIGARH: Haryana’s Minister for irrigation and Power, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, said at a district officers meeting at Rewari last week that the chances of S.YL. Canal water reaching Haryana in the near future were bleak.
Surjewala said that serious efforts had been made in the recent past to have the canal construction expedited. The last such effort was made by the Haryana government when it organized a meeting of Haryana M.P.s Central minister for irrigation V. C.Shukla. He did not reveal what wan spired at the meeting but evidently the Haryana MP.s was not given an encouraging re sponse.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s Sikh militants are determined not to allow the construction of S.Y.L. canal nor permit any Punjab water to be taken into neighboring states, India’s own laws as also
International laws do not provide for transfer of water from one valley to another.
Even Akalis appear now to be wiser by experience of their total isolation from the public for
Selling out Punjab’s interests for petty personal gains. It was at the instance of the two main Akali groups that S.Y L. canal was al owed to be built under the Raji Longowalaccord which the public in Punjab rejected later. Hindu think tanks even at this stage are pleading for the merger of Badal and Barala groups to emerge as, a formidable force so that the Hindu interests are protected through them.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 22, 1991
