The emotive and contentious issue of river water sharing between Punjab and Haryana took centre stage again with the Supreme Court beginning hearings into a presidential reference on the legality of Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004. At the heart of the river water sharing controversy is the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL), the proposed 122 kilometre -long canal which would link the Punjab Satluj basin to the Yamuna basin. Punjab is opposed to the construction of a portion of the canal in Punjab and to the idea of sharing water with Haryana. Sharing water is problematic anywhere, more so in places that are almost entirely agricultural; there are also fears that sharing will leave the region parched. With elections scheduled in Punjab for 2017, in less than a year’s time from now, the resurfacing of the issue has crucial political ramifications. [related-post] The Congress is trying to garner support for the party by highlighting the issue while the ruling alliance partners in Punjab - SAD and BJP—are looking to wriggle out of a corner. The latter are on a sticky wicket given that neighbouring Haryana is also a BJP-ruled state and the BJP leads the coalition government at the Centre. What adds to alliance partners’ woes in Punjab is that the Centre has already taken a pro-Haryana stance in the court, batting for the construction of the SYL canal’s Punjab portion. Much to the chagrin of the Akali Dal, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh is credited with solving the water dispute when he was the chief minister in 2004 and passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, ending the dispute up till now. The Act has earned Amarinder the distinction of being described as the “saviour of Punjab waters” by a large section of the population, something SAD finds hard to digest. No wonder then, that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, during budget session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Thursday, said the Act was 'iqbaliya jurm' (admission of guilt) by Congress as all the terminated agreements under the Act, according to Badal, were finalised by Congress governments. Badal also submitted a semi official letter, which he said was a communication between then chief minister of Punjab and Congress leader Giani Zail Singh and his Haryana counterpart in Haryana Banarsi Das Gupta to construct the SYL canal. The communication dated back to 1976, according to Badal. Such is the seriousness of the issue that both Amarinder and Badal are leaving no stone unturned to outdo each other on the issue. Both blame each other on the SYL canal issue. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has made the Punjab elections a triangular contest, has joined issue, backing Punjab’s opposition to the canal. The proposed canal has a history of bloodshed as a chief engineer and his assistant were killed in Punjab by militants in 1990 apparently in protest against construction of the canal. Work on the canal had come to a standstill earlier after 30 labourers working at the site were killed by terrorists. The contentious issue is often considered to be one of the issues responsible for terrorism in the state. The war of words between the SAD-BJP and the Congress is likely to escalate and rock the Punjab assembly in the current budget session. On Thursday, it had to be adjourned five times and the entire Congress leadership was suspended from participating in any further proceedings for obstructing the House on the issue. To ensure that Akali Dal stalwart and five time chief minister Badal does not steal show, the Congress leadership lodged a strong protest to include amendments to the resolution moved by the CM – albeit without any success. In a related development, Chief Minister Badal has also announced the denotification of more than 5,000 acres of land acquired for the canal. The Congress was quick to issue statement: PPCC president Charanjit Singh Channi said it was the Congress which first batted for de-notification of the land in question.
