Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today questioned the repercussions of completion of the SYL canal. ‘‘Courts can give any verdict but who’s going to bear the human and social cost of it?’’ Singh said after his meeting with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.‘‘The social cost of the SYL is going to be tremendous. Nine lakh acres would become barren and imagine the number of people who would stand to lose their livelihood in Punjab,’’ he said. ‘‘Court orders are all fine but nobody can overlook such high social and human cost of the situation.’’Singh brushed off allegations levelled by the Opposition that the state had presented a weak defence in the Supreme Court. ‘‘There are other reasons why we lost the case. if anyone can give me a better advocate than Fali S. Nariman, then I am ready to take him,’’ he stated.Punjab has asked the Centre for a Rs 1,280-crore package for the implementation of the Johl Committee report, which had called for diversification of crops to retrieve the state from the rice-wheat cycle. Singh said that as per the committee’s report, the government plans to transfer 10 lakh hectares from paddy to oilseeds and pulses. The farmers would have to be compensated at Rs 12,500 per hectare for switching to the new crop, he said.Punjab also sought a bailout package for the state’s sugar mills; the state would not seek market borrowings to revive the mills, he said. The Chief Minister has also demanded enhancment of the minimum support price for wheat, cotton and paddy.
