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Chandigarh, February 23
Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday warned of a serious law and order problem in the old Naxalite and Khalistani belt of southern Punjab if the SYL canal construction is completed without taking the ground realities into account.
With due deference and respect to the Supreme Court, the Punjab Congress president said its directive on the SYL completion before going into the question of availability of water amounted to putting the cart before the horse.
Pointing to the huge infrastructural cost involved in the canal construction, which would all come to naught if there was no water found subsequently to share with the neighbouring states, Captain Amarinder urged the apex court to take cognizance of the situation on the ground in terms of water availability and quantum in Punjab.
It was imperative first to make an independent and fresh assessment to check if there was water available in Punjab, and how much, if any, could be spared for sharing with other states, said Captain Amarinder.
If the court, in its wisdom, later discovers that there is no water then the money invested in SYL construction would go down the drain, he pointed out, adding that the cash crunched state of Punjab could ill afford the same.
Captain Amarinder’s comments came even as tensions between Punjab and Haryana touch a high amid the Indian National Lok Dal’s attempts to force entry into Punjab to start digging for SYL.
Reacting to Abhay Chautala’s threat not to allow any Punjab leader to enter Haryana, Captain Amarinder termed it totally irresponsible and a desperate bid to revive INLD following Thursday’s flop show. No Indian citizen can be prevented from going to any part of the country, he added.
The Congress chief ministerial candidate pointed out that the Supreme Court itself had on Wednesday taken note of the looming threat of law and order breakdown as a result of the INLD action and had directed the governments in the two states to ensure that peace is maintained at all costs.
Even as he welcomed the Supreme Court’s directive on maintaining law and order, Captain Amarinder noted that with an estimated 10 lakh acres of land in southern Punjab expected to go dry as a result of SYL, the 6 lakh odd people of the region, which has a history of militancy and extremism, would be forced to resort to violence to feed their children. The sub-soil water in the area was brackish and the people were dependent on canal water even for their drinking needs, he pointed out, warning that the people of southern Punjab would come out on the streets if their crops dried up and their families were deprived of even the basic necessities of life.
The central government, he said, should approach the apex court with the request to set up a high-powered commission to ascertain the water levels and their adequacy in the context of Punjab’s water demand. The Supreme Court should go into the matter of SYL construction only after this exercise is completed, he added.
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s that he will bring Indus river water from Pakistan to nourish India, Captain Amarinder told some mediapersons that it was mere political rhetoric, which would lead to the creation of an international SYL issue. Does he want to trigger a war with Pakistan, he demanded to know, adding that Pakistan would not take any move by India to forcibly take away water in violation of the Indus Valley Treated, created under the World Bank auspices in 1960.
Terming as `politically motivated’ the series of water level assessments undertaken by various commissions and bodies, beginning with 1955, Captain Amarinder said the Eradi Commission had in fact taken into account the flood water levels since 1928 to pump up its figure to 18 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water from the earlier numbers. The fact of the matter was that the water levels had actually been receding drastically as a result of the glacier meltdown in the higher reaches on account of the greenhouse effect, leaving Punjab with virtually no water on the ground.
While answering the four questions raised by the presidential reference of 2004 on the SYL issue, the Supreme Court, with due respect, had not discussed or debated the practicalities of the SYL implementation since the key issues in the matter had not been raised before the honourable judges by either the central government or the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government in Punjab, the Punjab Congress president said.
Captain Amarinder further observed that the Punjab Reorganization Act 1966 had allocated land and other key resources, including the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej water, between Punjab and Haryana in the 60:40 ratio. However, the same principle was, inexplicably, not followed in the case of the Yamuna water, of which Haryana got the entire 5.58 MAF share while Punjab has got none, resulting in total water being available with Haryana at 14.03 MFA while Punjab was left with 12.6 MFA despite having bigger share in the 60:40 distribution of agricultural land.
“Is this justice,” asked Captain Amarinder, adding that this was the key issue that should have been raised by the central and state government in challenging Haryana’s claim before the Supreme Court.
He demanded that the provisions of Section 78/79 of the 1966 Act with respect to water sharing be declared null and void, as they were ultra-vires of the Constitution. Captain Amarinder also urged the central government to apprise the apex court of the correct constitutional position, whereby the inter-state river waters could not be distributed under Article 3 of the Indian Constitution.
Failure to bring the SYL-triggered tensions under control would have disastrous consequences in the form of a complete law and order breakdown, with the grave potential of leading to resurgence of militancy in Punjab.
