The agitation has, meanwhile, drawn attention from both ruling and opposition leaders. On Thursday, former Patiala MP and BJP leader Preneet Kaur visited the dharna site and later led a delegation of farmers to meet Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. “We want either the siphons’ capacity to be increased or the canal be rerouted below the Ghaggar,” said Harbhajan Singh Chatha, Sanaur block president of the Krantikari Kisan Union, who was part of the delegation.

Farmers recalled that they had opposed the project since its clearance in 2006, during the tenure of then Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh. “Despite protests, the canal was constructed between 2007 and 2010. Preneet Kaur admitted that it was the Congress governments at the Centre, Punjab, and Haryana that had cleared it, and she was the local MP at the time. Now that she is in BJP, we told her to ensure our issue is resolved,” said Jatinder Singh.

AAP MLA from Sanaur Chetan Singh Jauramajra had met protesters on September 9 and assured them that he would raise the issue in the Punjab Assembly.

Officials, too, acknowledge the problem. Samana SDM Harjeet Kaur said that the canal, constructed by Haryana along the state border boundary without mandatory clearances, obstructs the natural flood flow of the Ghaggar and its tributaries, posing “a high risk of submergence in Punjab’s border areas.”

During the 2023 floods, the Hansi-Butana siphon had worsened the situation in Samana and adjoining villages, damaging crops, property, and infrastructure, Patiala district administration officials said. This year too, waterlogging has left several Patiala villages submerged. On Monday, Patiala SDM Harjot Kaur and Executive Engineer (Drainage) Pratham Gambhir visited flood-hit areas including Sassi Brahman, Sassi Gujjran, Dharmahari, Hashampur, Bhawganpur, and Sassi Teh, and acknowledged that the canal’s obstruction had aggravated flooding.

Villagers also protested Tuesday and accused the canal of disrupting natural drainage and causing annual crop losses. “There are 48 siphon sections, each with a discharge capacity of 1.6 lakh cusecs. Due to silt accumulation, their capacity has reduced to half,” revealed information from government sources. Sources revealed that Punjab government has been writing to Haryana regularly, but the matter remains unresolved as it is sub judice in the Supreme Court.

With farmers intensifying their agitation, the canal has once again emerged as a flashpoint in Punjab-Haryana water disputes, bringing politics, protests, and annual flood woes to the fore.

What is the Hansi-Butana canal?

The Hansi-Butana canal, also known as the Bhakra Main Line-Hansi-Butana link canal, is a multipurpose irrigation/water-link project constructed by Haryana. It was constructed to carry Haryana’s share of water from the Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal to the southern/parched parts of Haryana, and help with equitable distribution of Bhakra/Bhakra-Beas water among several districts.

It is approximately 109-110 km long and was designed to draw water from the BML canal by diverting the BML near the Haryana-Punjab border (near Samana in Patiala) so that its intake could lift or receive water from the Bhakra Main Line.