Unquiet Flows the Satluj

But the two CMs are clear: they will not yield an inch. While turning down Amarinder’s offer for a joint meeting with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala hinted that he could even go to the extent of sending teams to build the canal in Punjab. Equally obdurate, Amarinder has hit back with a special session to discuss scrapping of all river water treaties between the two states, besides a curative plea in the SC.

He’s also reportedly engaged top lawyer Fali Nariman to challenge all agreements under Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, besides contesting the Centre’s authority to intervene in the river waters dispute by introducing Section 14 in the Inter-state Waters Dispute Act after the Rajiv-Longowal accord in 1985.

A master of SYL intrigue, Akali supremo Parkash Singh Badal went a step further. ‘‘Even God can’t take a drop out of Punjab,’’ he thundered recently, reminding many of the early ’80s when, on the banks of SYL, he along with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal launched the Nahar Roko Morcha, which was re-christened Dharam Yudh Morcha a few months later.

A ride through the SYL backwaters reveals a wild growth of manipulations, betrayals and stratagems. This canal has always inflamed passions in the two states, ever since it was conceived in March 1976 — ten years after the reorganisation of joint Punjab which gave birth to Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In March 1976, the Union Government under Indira Gandhi divided the surplus waters of Ravi-Beas (7 million acre feet) between Haryana and Punjab. Since the waters of these two rivers could not be taken to Haryana, the experts proposed a canal for taking the state’s entitlement of water (3.5 maf) from Satluj near Patiala to the Yamuna in arid Haryana.

Initially, the canal didn’t raise any hackles, and Parkash Singh Badal, the then Akali CM, even began work on it in February 1978. But the bonhomie between the two states vanished the moment Bhajan Lal took over the reins of Haryana, and filed a case against Punjab for going slow on the canal. Punjab replied by challenging in the SC, Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966, by which the Centre had abrogated the state’s control over river waters.

Indira, however, pressured Darbara Singh to withdraw the case and forged a trilateral agreement among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan wherein Haryana was given 3.5 maf. The states could have lived happily ever after but for the Dharam Yudh Morcha which made SYL its epicentre. Former chief engineer G.S. Dhillon recalls the angst even among the irrigation staff. ‘‘The award violated the riparian principle by giving Haryana a share in intra-Punjab rivers,’’ says Dhillon.

‘‘It’s gross injustice,’’ agrees Preetam Singh, and cites the Narmada waters dispute in which Rajastan was refused Narmada waters because the river didn’t flow through the state. ‘‘By this yardstick,’’ he adds, ‘‘Punjab should also be given part of Yamuna waters flowing through Haryana.’’

This argument is as popular today as it was during the days of militancy, when Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale is said to have funded a farmer from Faridkot to file a case against SYL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But in a strange turn of events, Justice S.S. Sandhawalia, who was to deliver his ruling on a Monday, was posted out to Patna on the preceding Saturday. And the case was transferred to the apex court.

The two states seemed to reach yet another happy ending when then PM Rajiv Gandhi inked an accord with Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal in 1985. According to lore, Rajiv gave Longowal a blank piece of paper and the latter wrote down the three conditions in Punjabi. But when translated into English, the second, relating to river waters, resulted merely in status quo.

The Eradi Tribunal, which was set up to give the final award, ran into rough weather in ’88 when militants gunned down two engineers and 30 labourers. The work on SYL canal too ground to a halt after the chief engineer M L Sekhri was killed in July 1990.

Twelve years on, the canal continues to languish even though it’s one issue that’s raked up by both the states in every election. In fact, Devi Lal used it to launch his Nyaya yudh that catapulted him back to power.

While Haryana swears by it — it’s already completed the 41-km stretch falling in its terrirtory — experts in Punjab would rather wish it away. A leading legal luminary, however, cautioned that riparian rights are an anachronism. Punjab, he warned, has limited legal remedy and Amarinder will have to reckon with the ruling sooner or later. ‘‘Amarinder may go the S.M. Krishna way if Chautala, now that his friend Badal is no longer in the saddle, moves a contempt petition,’’ he says.

However, there are others who see an escape route in the SC caveat that says if Punjab fails to complete the canal, the onus will be on the central government.

Whether the Centre heeds the SC or not, only time will tell. Meanwhile, the dispute flows on.

— With inputs from Mukesh Bhardwaj