CHANDIGARH: The Akali Dal (L) would not allow the completion of the Punjab portion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal.
The Haryana Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal, has been claiming that the Center has entrusted the job of completion of this, channel, which will carry river ‘waters from Punjab to Haryana to the Border Roads Origination and had allocated R.s 20 crore for the purpose.
Talking to newsmen here, on Wednesday, the Akali Dal (L) general secretary, Kanwaljit Singh described the statements of Lal as “controversial and provocative”, He said any at- tempt to start work on the canal would be resisted.
As per the Rajiy-Longowal ‘accord, he said, the completion of the canal was closely linked, to the settlement of river waters dispute among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The report of the Eradi commission, which was setup following the accord, was rejected by the governments of Punjab and Haryana.
The work on the controversial ‘canal was halted after the chief engineer, SYL was gunned down by militants, All political parties in Punjab have been demanding that the dispute over ‘water should be referred to the Supreme Court for adjudication.
The Punjab government is in the process of winding up constriction circles of this canal
and has transferred the casual “workers to other projects.
Kanwaljit Singh said that the settlement of the waters dispute was a part of the Rajiv- Longowal accord and, as such, even taking a “final decision” con this particular aspect of the accord alone would not be sufficient.
Maintaining that while the accord which till formed the basis of any solution to the Punjab problem and should be implemented, the state should also be given more autonomy. When asked whether the accord was acceptable to the militants, Singh said what they were demanding was outside the purview of the Constitution while his party stood for a solution to the problem within the ambit of the Constitution. The Akalis, he claimed, were the only “relevant force” insofar as keeping Punjab in India was concerned. Clarifying his party’s position regarding the resolution passed by the now-defunct anti-repression committee for boycott Of future elections in Punjab, he said the resolution had made it clear that the decision was subject to, ratification by the ‘working committees of various, Akali factions represented on the committee. The Akali Dal (L) working committee had not 80 far ratified this decision. ‘However, he doubted the credibility of the government to at all hold elections in the state. ‘The Dal (L) working committee, former MLAs and MPs and members of the Shiroromani. Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had met, here on Monday. The major issue under discussion was the election of the office-bearers of the S.G.P.C. Slated for November 13. It was decided to authorize the acting president, Kabul Singh and the former chief minister, Surjit Singh Bamala, to contact all other groups and take an ‘“appropriate decision”. He said the effective strength of the general house of the SGPC was now about 105 members and 35 of them owed allegiance to, the Dal (L). The Dal (Mann) had the support of five members and so was the case of Jagdey Singh Talwandi. The rest were divided between the Akali Dal (Badal) ana Takea ‘The meeting expressed “deep. Concern’” over the recent happenings in Ayodhya and the attempts to communalize the situation in the country. The meeting clarified that the Sikhs ‘were not opposed to the construction of Ram Mandir but demolition of the Babri Mas would pose a direct challenge to the unity and integrity of the country.
The meeting condemned the apathy of the Center in solving the Punjab problem where the tion was deteriorating. It was felt that the writ of the government had ceased to run in the state and the policy of terror adopted by the government had proved counterproductive, It felt that the situation in the state called for an ear solution.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 15, 1991