CHANDIGARH: Faced with the threat of physical liquidation of those who would dare to take up construction on the anti-Sikh Sutlej Yamuna Link canal project, the Indian authorities are having second thoughts on the project itself,
Swinderpal Singh Renu, a leader of S.Y.L, canal employees, has quoted the project’s chief engineer, A.D. Dewan, saying that the government of India was thinking of closing down the project and that he could no more than give employees their salary.
India wasted Rs 550 crore on the project, most of it either on the central government’s account or on Punjab government’s account although the main beneficiary would have been the Hindu state of Haryana.
This project was started by the late Indira Gandhi on April 8, 1982, after compelling the then Congress (I) government headed by Darbara Singh to withdraw a case from the Supreme Court and after arranging a political agreement among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan governments on distribution of Punjab’s river water. Mrs.Gandhi had then argued that the case in the court was time consuming and that the canal project deserved to be built at an early date in the national interest.”
According to field response now available, even if the Indian government abandons its reported closure move, the Punjab government agrees to the project and the Sikh militants create no obstacles, it will still take not less than three years to complete the project. The portions of the canal already built will not be able to withstand the pressure of water, when released, owing to sub-standard material used in construction_
India, it may be recalled, had roped in as contractors not only professionals but also from among leaders of All India Sikh Student Federation who posed themselves as close to militants.
Meanwhile, the Indian military controlled Border Roads Organizations by Punjab or Haryana were for taking up the construction work after Punjab engineers abandoned the project in the wake of the killing of a chief engineer by Sikh militants.
The Sikh militants had to use force to stop the project after India Suppressed opposition to the project by using police force. This opposition came: from Akalis” one stage, Even the G.P.(M) backed the anti-SYL stir at Stage.
While most officers of Punjab had danced to the tunes of the antiSikh project’s pushers in Delhi, it was left to Swaran Singh Boparai I.A.S; to record a note on file as secretary that the project should be abandoned as Punjab had no Water to spare for Haryana.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1994
