Satluj-Yamuna Canal Analysis
How political parties are fishing in troubled waters of SYL ahead of assembly elections
Having no idea about the seriousness and intensity of the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, which has the violent and complex history, political parties in the state have rather decided to fish in the troubled waters for scoring political brownie points. Not easy to comprehend the political ramification of the issue, majority of the parties are on hasty tangent accompanied with flop-flops.
The SYL canal has a history of bloodshed as militants had killed the chief engineer and his assistant, the superintendent engineer, in Punjab in 1990. The construction of the canal had earlier come to halt when 30 labourers were killed. Apparently, the issue …show more content…
A canal linking Satluj basin with that of Yamuna basin was planned to enable Haryana to use its share of the water of Sutlej and its tributary Beas. On April 8, 1982, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ceremonially dug the ground at Kapoori village in Patiala district paving the way for the construction of the 214-km Sutlej-Yamuna Link (or SYL) canal. A year earlier, Indira Gandhi had negotiated a tripartite agreement between Punjab, Haryana and Rajsathan. Interestingly, Congress was the ruling party in all three states.
Political …show more content…
Political parties are changing their stand according to the state they are in. Congress’ stand has always been ambiguous on the issue. After raking up issue, it tried to douse the fire by annulling the act in 2004 when Captain Amarinder Singh was the CM of the state. However, in current context, Congress is not clear on its stand. While SAD-BJP led government in Punjab has announced denotification of more than 4,000 acres of land acquired for the canal, Congress was quick to oppose. Congress leadership in state lodged a strong protest to include amendments to the resolution moved by the CM Prakash Singh Badal – albeit without any success.
Finding itself in fix, AAP’s political discourse on the issue has been accompanied with flip-flops. Kejriwal took a strong Punjab centric stance during his visit to the state earlier this year by stating that Punjab doesn’t have any water to spare but took a U-turn later. Delhi government filed an affidavit in Supreme Court endorsing the stand taken by Haryana government. Realising its political blunder AAP was quick enough to shrug of its responsibility by passing on the blame on to government appointed counsel. Delhi government sacked the counsel and filed a fresh affidavit taking a neutral
Having no idea about the seriousness and intensity of the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, which has the violent and complex history, political parties in the state have rather decided to fish in the troubled waters for scoring political brownie points. Not easy to comprehend the political ramification of the issue, majority of the parties are on hasty tangent accompanied with flop-flops.
The SYL canal has a history of bloodshed as militants had killed the chief engineer and his assistant, the superintendent engineer, in Punjab in 1990. The construction of the canal had earlier come to halt when 30 labourers were killed. Apparently, the issue …show more content…
A canal linking Satluj basin with that of Yamuna basin was planned to enable Haryana to use its share of the water of Sutlej and its tributary Beas. On April 8, 1982, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ceremonially dug the ground at Kapoori village in Patiala district paving the way for the construction of the 214-km Sutlej-Yamuna Link (or SYL) canal. A year earlier, Indira Gandhi had negotiated a tripartite agreement between Punjab, Haryana and Rajsathan. Interestingly, Congress was the ruling party in all three states.
Political …show more content…
Political parties are changing their stand according to the state they are in. Congress’ stand has always been ambiguous on the issue. After raking up issue, it tried to douse the fire by annulling the act in 2004 when Captain Amarinder Singh was the CM of the state. However, in current context, Congress is not clear on its stand. While SAD-BJP led government in Punjab has announced denotification of more than 4,000 acres of land acquired for the canal, Congress was quick to oppose. Congress leadership in state lodged a strong protest to include amendments to the resolution moved by the CM Prakash Singh Badal – albeit without any success.
Finding itself in fix, AAP’s political discourse on the issue has been accompanied with flip-flops. Kejriwal took a strong Punjab centric stance during his visit to the state earlier this year by stating that Punjab doesn’t have any water to spare but took a U-turn later. Delhi government filed an affidavit in Supreme Court endorsing the stand taken by Haryana government. Realising its political blunder AAP was quick enough to shrug of its responsibility by passing on the blame on to government appointed counsel. Delhi government sacked the counsel and filed a fresh affidavit taking a neutral