CHANDIGARH: Capt Amarinder Singh, president of the Akali Dal (Panthic), July 3 called upon all Akali factions to sink their differences and get together fora joint fight on the issue of the SYL canal.

Talking to newsmen here, Capt Amarinder Singh said the Government of India would do well to refer the whole dispute to the Supreme Court for a verdict on whether or not Haryana had a claim on Fiver walers of Punjab. In case, the Center went ahead with a unilateral decision on this ticklish issue, all parties should be ready for a joint agitation. He said that the river waters issue was a matter of he and death for the farmers of Punjab. The water table was already going down indifferent parts of the state, despite best efforts, Punjab was unable to provide irrigation water for its two major crops. Under the circumstances, it would be criminal to give away water to other states.

Capt Amaninder Singh also cautioned the Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh against taking any nasty step on the issue. He had no doubt on his mind that if Punjab was denied its rightful share in the river waters, law and order situation in the state would deteriorate once again,

The Dal leader said that at the time of the reorganization of Punjab on linguistic basis in 1966, all the assets of and liabilities were divided in the rate of 60:40 between Punjab and Haryana. Butin the case of river waters, this principle was not followed, Haryana got away with a lion’s share in the river waters, This injustice must be undone,

He also alleged that the Beant Singh government had entered into a secret understanding with the Center to barter away Punjab’s Interests on river as well as territorial issues. It was his information that the Punjab Government had agreed to a division of Chandigarh between Punjab and Haryana under which the city would be di vided along Udyog Path. Punjab was also willing to part with a large number of villages in Dera Bassi, Lalru, Ghannaur, Lehra and certain areas along the Ghaggar river.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 9, 1993