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http://tehelka.com/syl-stalemate-will-it-remain-an-issueless-issue-for-ever/
http://tehelka.com/syl-stalemate-will-it-remain-an-issueless-issue-for-ever/
http://tehelka.com/syl-stalemate-will-it-remain-an-issueless-issue-for-ever/
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-hawk-5-1-24-jag-mohan-thaken-punjab.html
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-hawk-5-1-24-jag-mohan-thaken-punjab.html
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-hawk-5-1-24-jag-mohan-thaken-punjab.html
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-south-india-times-5-1-24-jag-mohan.html
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-south-india-times-5-1-24-jag-mohan.html
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-south-india-times-5-1-24-jag-mohan.html
Monday 1 January 2024
MY ARTICLE IN TEHELKA- 2024 JANUARY FIRST ISSUE-- ON SYL-- JAG MOHAN THAKEN
EDITOR
https://thegroundpost.blogspot.com/2024/01/tehelka-issue-15-january2024-article-on.html
S Y L:
Will it remain an issueless issue for ever?
JAG MOHAN
THAKEN
When Haryana, a new state, formed out of
Punjab in 1966, not only the areas were divided, but some other issues were
also kept on table for consideration, which are still existing as a bone of
contention between the two states.
According
to the provisions of the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, and as per the
Government of India's order dated 24.3.1976, Haryana was allocated 3.5 million
acre-feet (MAF) of water from the surplus waters of the Ravi-Beas rivers.
However, due to the non-construction of the SYL Canal, Haryana only using 1.62
MAF of water. As per claim of Haryana government, Punjab, by failing to
complete the canal's construction within its jurisdiction, is unlawfully
utilizing approximately 1.9 MAF of Haryana's share of water. This obstinate
attitude of Punjab has left Haryana unable to access its rightful share of 1.88
MAF of water.
On the
other hand, excess water of Ravi, Sutlej and Beas is going to Pakistan. Due to
this, the country is being deprived of taking advantage of its water wealth. In
the last ten years, 1.68 MFA of Sutlej water and 0.58 MFA of Ravi-Beas water
have flowed to Pakistan.
Despite Government
of India's order dated 24.3.1976, the issue of water distribution remained
unresolved and as per details on Wikipedia, after the
Indian National Congress came to power in Punjab in 1980, an agreement was
reached between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, which were all under Congress
rule, with Darbara Singh being the chief minister of Punjab and Indira Gandhi
being the prime minister of India. Under the agreement, Punjab's share was
increased to 5.21 billion m3 and that of Rajasthan to 10.6 billion m3 while the
share of Haryana from the revised 21.18 billion m3 of water remained the same.
All states withdrew their suits from the Supreme Court following the signing of
agreement. On 8 April 1982, Indira Gandhi formally launched the construction of
the canal at Kapoori village of Punjab.
While the
canal's portion had been completed in Haryana, the portion in Punjab was not.
The Akali Dal government in Punjab under Surjit Singh Barnala started the
construction of the canal. But
the
construction was stopped in July 1990 after a Chief Engineer associated with
its construction was shot dead.
The canal remained incomplete due to the
dispute over the issue. In 1999, Haryana filed a suit in the Supreme Court
seeking construction of the canal. In 2002, the Supreme Court directed Punjab
to complete the SYL canal within a year. Punjab refused to do so and petitioned
for a review of the court order which was rejected. In 2004, the Supreme Court
directed the Union government to get the canal completed through a central
agency. The Central Public Works Department was appointed on 2 July 2004 to
take over the canal work from Punjab government. However, on 12 July 2004, the
Punjab Legislative Assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act,
2004 which abrogated all its river water agreements with neighbouring states.
The worst
day dawn on 15 March 2016, when the Punjab Legislative Assembly unanimously
passed the Punjab Satluj Yamuna Link Canal Land (Transfer of Proprietary
Rights) Bill, 2016, proposing to return the land that had been taken from
owners for building the SYL canal. On 18 March, the Supreme Court ordered the
Punjab government to maintain status quo on the land meant for construction of
the canal. To arrive at some amicable solution, on 22 February 2017, the
Supreme Court stated that the Government of Punjab will have to abide by its
order on construction of SYL canal and it will pass a decree if the governments
of Punjab and Haryana failed to come to an agreement.
But,
despite Supreme Court rulings, Punjab has yet to conclude the construction of
the SYL canal.
What
Haryana and Punjab claim?
With an
aim to reach some amicable agreement , as per supreme court directions, a
meeting of the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab was held on December 28 at
Chandigarh under the chairmanship of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh
Shekhawat to address the issue of Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL).
Haryana
CM Manohar Lal Khattar said that as per the agreement, Haryana is not getting
its legitimate share of water, but Haryana is managing to avail water at its
own level. But despite these efforts, sufficient water is not reaching South
Haryana and Aravalli region. Accordingly, as per the decision of the Supreme
Court, if Punjab constructs SYL, it does not mean that we will snatch the
water. In alignment with the Supreme Court's decision, the construction of the
SYL by Punjab does not imply an intention to forcibly acquire water.
Khattar highlighted
that the Bhakhra Channel, presently in operation for approximately 66-67 years,
is aging, and he underscored the crucial necessity for constructing the SYL to
ensure the uninterrupted flow of water in the event of any future obstructions
in this channel.
Presenting
the state’s concerns, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann unequivocally
said that the question of constructing the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal does
not arise as the state is not having a single drop of water to share with
anyone.
The Chief
Minister said that the state needs more than 54 MAF water to cater to its
irrigational needs. However, he said that the situation is so grim that Punjab
only has around 14 MAF of water, which it is providing to the food growers. In
such a scenario there is no question of sharing even a drop of water with any
other states therefore Punjab vehemently opposes the construction of SYL.
Mann said
that Punjab’s 76.5% blocks (117 out of 153) are over exploited where the stage
of ground water extraction is more than 100%, whereas in Haryana only 61.5% (88
out of 143) are over exploited. Rather, water from Ganga and Yamuna should be
supplied to Punjab through Satluj river.
Will SYL
ever see Sun dawn?
In the
present scenario, it seems farfetched that SYL canal ever see the bright sun
dawn. On October 7, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal had
appealed to Punjabis not to allow any central team wishing to conduct a survey
to facilitate supply of Ravi-Beas water from the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal
to Haryana to enter the State.
Clearly
challenging, the SAD president, the former power partner of BJP, also announced
that the party would not allow even a single drop of water to go to Haryana
come what may. “Be it any direction of the apex court or even the dispatch of
the army by the Prime Minister to facilitate transfer of water to Haryana, we
will not let this become a reality.”
In such a situation, will central government
dare to get the SYL constructed even after the supreme court strict directions?
Some
questions, which come in mind while discussing SYL issue, were asked to some
farmer leaders -- “SYL a long pending unresolved issue and no solution seems in
the near future also. Do you see any ray of hope? Who is creating hindrances?
Despite Supreme court directions, why no progress? Whom do you think
responsible? Why is the central government not taking the project in its
hands?”
A
Vice-President of All India Kisan Sabha, Inderjeet Singh, says, “Actually the
water sharing issue is a part of the other contentious issues between Punjab
and Haryana. It is difficult to resolve in isolation. It is the politics of
opportunism adopted by successive regimes on either side. At present also BJP
is raking it up for gaining political mileage.”
Another
farmer leader and an RTI activist of Haryana, Dr. Balbir Singh, comments, “The
intentions and actions of those in power are not to solve problems. They just
pretend. If the problems are resolved, then their issues will be resolved. You
must have heard the story of choosing a monkey as a king instead of a lion in
the jungle, continuous jumping up and down with hurried actions to overshow his
efforts, but no outcome. Anyway, it is the eternal rule of those in power that
it is easy to rule only if the public is unable to overcome the crisis of food
and bread. If the stomach of the public is full then it becomes difficult to
rule.”
Reacting
over the SYL issue, a social activist and the former AAP leader, Naveen Jai
Hind says, “The meeting of Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab on the SYL
issue in the presence of the Union Cabinet Minister in Chandigarh remained just
a tea-biscuit meeting. The intention of these political parties is clearly
visible from the way the decision of the Supreme Court was ignored. They do not
want the people of Haryana to get the water that is their right. All these
political parties only do politics in the name of SYL and want it to remain
only a political issue.”
The SYL
canal issue had remained an election issue since long and as the bugle of 2024
elections has started to echo, so every political party will once again raise
the issue with full pump and show, but no one is ready to bell the cat. Will
the election time milking cow, SYL, once again be milked and let be strayed
after the elections end?
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