The Supreme Court latest directions is likely to put Capt. Amarinder Singh govt. in tight spot. The top court has given four more months to Punjab, Haryana, and the union govt to find an amicable solution to break the deadlock over the SYL Canal. But there is another harsh reality.
The SYL is highly emotive issues between Punjab and Haryana. The people of Punjab and their political leaders, whether Congress, Akalis, APP or BJP, are not ready to give a drop of water to their brethren in Haryana.
Punjab. for all intent and purpose, has closed the project. It has even earthed the dug portion of SYL in its territory and returned the land to the farmers. The land in question is now being cultivated. Even if top court directs the Punjab govt to acquire the land in question, farmers will move the court. In that even. the matter could be delayed further.
To recall the timeline, In 2016, the SAD-BJP coalition govt had de-notified 5,376 acres of land acquired from 4,980 farmers and returned it to them. Not only this, it returned Haryana share of the project also. Revenue officials were asked to complete all formalities including mutation for the transfer of land to the farmers. Akali leaders and their supporters reached the canal site with JCB and levelled the large part of the canal, Even Congress and other political parties clandestinely supported the move. All this was done to circumvent the court directions, Supreme Court had to intervene after Haryana govt knocked its door. It cracked the whip directing the Punjab government to maintain status quo on land for the canal .
It is the 1981 water-sharing agreement. for effective allocation of river water that has created bad blood between people of two neighboring state. SYL Canal was carved out and two states were required to construct their portions within their territories.While Haryana constructed its portion of SYL canal, Punjab stopped the work, leading to multiple cases.
In 2004, the Congress government in Punjab terminated the 1981 agreement and all other pacts relating to sharing waters of the Ravi and Beas rivers. This was done after the top court In 2002 ordered Punjab to honor its commitments on water sharing. Punjab filed an suit that was rejected in 2004 by the Supreme Court which asked the Centre to take over the remaining infrastructure work of the SYL canal project.
In November 2016, the top court declared the law passed by the Punjab Assembly in 2004 terminating the SYL canal water-sharing agreement unconstitutional. But despite this, Punjab returned land—on which canal was to be constructed—to the landowners in 2017.
Punjab stand is that the SYL share of water to Haryana was based on 1920 data and now the situation has radically changed. "Punjab does not have a drop of water to spare and there is no question of our accepting or implementing any decision which deprives us of our fundamental right under the riparian principle," the then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had said. Haryana claims to be a water-deficit state and has said that it has been deprived of more than half of its legitimate share of 3.50 MAF in surplus Ravi-Beas water,
If we look at the past events and rigid stand of the Punjab govt, there is hardly any hope of an amicable solution. The project is, literally, dead for all intent and purposes. All Haryana could get out of this sensitive issue is some mileage in assembly elections due later this year.
(Chander Sharma)