New Chanakiyan angle to the SYL canal dispute
Punjab leaders urged to unite to 'take up the gauntlet' & meet this challenge to our future generations head on
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - What this column had foretold over six months ago (Khalistan Calling dated April 06, 2005) about the conspiracy brewing in Haryana to manipulate the Nangal headworks to siphon extra water, for that state from the Bhakra canal via a new link canal, in place of the defunct SYL canal, has come true. We hope all the political leaders of the Punjab are listening, (organizing, uniting and 'keeping their powder dry') in order to meet this new threat and challenge to the well-being of the present and future generations of the Sikh Homeland.In the Khalistan Calling of April 06, 2005, (www.khalistan-affairs.org/khalistancalling/2005/april06.aspx) we had given a wake up call to the Punjabi leadership when we learnt that a conspiracy was brewing, in non-riparian Haryana state, to steal water-short Punjab's Ravi/ Beas rivers water via a new link canal. Based on inside information from our sources in India, we had drafted the following lines, over six months ago, which words now seem presciently:- "Our sources have gotten back pronto with inside information. They report that some Haryana state Congress leaders have come up with the suggestion that Haryana state ought to syphon water from the Bhakra main line canal (which currently carries Sutlej river water to Western Haryana) at a location in the Narwana sub-division through which it passes, by constructing a new eighty Kilometer long link canal from there to carry water into the Yumna canal system, near Panipat, all inside Haryana territory. These Congress leaders have also convinced themselves, and probably the Haryana Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as well, that the Sikh majority of Punjab is so fixated on the SYL canal issue that they won't even know when the Hindu-dominated, anti/ Sikh officials of the BBMB (Bhakra Beas Management Board) who have full control over the Bhakra Nangal dam and Nangal headworks (unlike the Ropar, Harike and Ferozepore headworks which are controlled by the state of Punjab) secretly increase the outflow in the Bhakra canal to the deteriment of the Punjab." End of quote culled from the Khalistan Calling dated April 06, 2005. For more details click at: (www.khalistanaffairs.org/home/khalistancalling/2005/april06.aspx)
The above conspiracy is no longer just a conspiracy, but has become an overt fact, according to a report, headlined, "Deadline fixed for canal completion" published in the TRIBUNE of October 21, 2005. (www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051021/haryana.htm#1) According to the Tribune newspaper, and also confirmed by our sources, "The Haryana Government has fixed December, 2006, as the deadline for the completion of a 109 km-long Sirsa-Hansi link canal from Bhakra Main Line Hansi branch." The Haryana goverment has even drawn up the monthly work schedule to attain this objective.
The above mentioned Tribune report also reveals that, "the land acquisition process had been completed for the entire length of the canal. The land awards would be announced by November 30, 2005, for the entire length and work executed in 57 packages. Tenders had been floated for all works except structures. The design of masonry structures would be finalised by the central design office by October 31 and work would start on the entire length by January 1, 2006." The deadline and the monthly work schedule were finalised at a meeting presided over by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in Chandigarh on October 19, 2005, which was held for reviewing the functioning of the Irrigation Department. It was also decided, says the report, to forward to the Central Government Haryana’s ambitious irrigation projects involving an investment of Rs 1,217 crore under the Bharat Nirman Programme.
The Official Press Release issued in Chandigarh, on October 20, 2005, quotes the Haryana Irrigation Secretary, Mr Anil Razdan, as saying that, "the proposed channel, costing Rs 259 crore, would connect the Bhakra Main Line with the Hansi branch and carry 2,000 cusec of Haryana’s share of the Ravi-Beas waters. The water is being carried at present by the Bhakra Main Line command due to capacity constraints in the Narwana branch."
It is obvious from this arrogant October 20, 2005 Haryana government Press Release that the political leadership of non-riparian Haryana state has thrown down the gauntlet by deciding to create 'facts on the ground' to challenge 'the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004' which was unanimously passed by the Punjab assembly, in a rare and historic show of unity, on Monday July 12, 2004. Readers will recall that the 'Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004' had cancelled all previous agreements on use of Ravi/Beas river waters while magnanimously protecting the "existing FREE use" of Sutlej river water by non-riparian states of Haryana and Rajasthan.
Diplomatic observors believe that the Congress party Hooda governnment in Haryana could not have acted, the way it has, without a 'wink and a nod' from the Congress party led coalition government of Prime minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi. These observors recall the written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha (Parliament) on March 15, 2005, given by the Union Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dass on the matter of the inter-state water disputes between Punjab and Haryana. The Central minister took a new position when he said that, "We have no intention to take up those disputes under the riparian principle where the inter-state disputes have already been settled among the state governments." The reply clearly indicatesd the anti-Punjab direction of the Manmohan Singh government's thinking in New Delhi. (For more details about the Lok Sabha debate read the report in the Tribune of March 16, 2005 headlined, "Punjab gets jolt on SYL issue," by clicking at: www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050316/nation.htm#16)
Despite the above provocative, and loaded, Lok Sabha statetment of the Union Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dass, the Punjab Governor S. F. Rodrigues (a former Indian Army Chief) in his address, three days later, on the opening day of the Budget session of the Punjab State Assembly (on Friday March 18, 2005) declared that Punjab was open for discussion with the neighbouring states (read Haryana) to resolve the bitter disputes (read SYL canal) over river waters. The Punjab Governor said that, "there have all along been misgivings as to the fairness of the manner in which waters of Punjab states' rivers are sought to be allocated."
This magnanimous gesture, by the Punjab Governor, clearly reflected a goodwill move by the Punjabs' Amrinder Singh government towards the newly elected Congress party administration in Haryana - a non-riparian Hindu-majority state - as there has been widespread criticism there of the very popular Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004, piloted by Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh, and passed unanimously in the Punjab state assembly, on 12 July 2004. This act, which is now a Punjab state law - within the boundaries of the Indian constitution - legally nullified all unequal illegal agreements/ understanding on sharing of Punjab's Ravi/ Beas river waters. The same waters now being coveted by non-riparian Haryana which would be in addition to the Punjabs' Sutlej river waters the non-riparian state of Haryana has been stealing for decades, free of charge, while refusing to share the waters of the Jumna river with the Punjab.
Instead of responding positively to Punjab's goodwill gesture of offering to hold friendly negotiations on the SYL issue with non-riparian state of Haryana, the new Congress party Chief minister of that state, Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is reported to have promptly, and arrogantly, rejected Punjab's magnanimous offer, on March 22, 2005, by saying that, "the Punjab Government, after having passed the Termination of Water Sharing Agreements Act, should not expect Haryana to respond to its call for holding a dialogue on the SYL issue." Haryana Chief Minister Hooda's 'in your face' reaction should have alerted the rank & file in the Punjab that something was afoot. (www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050323/main6.htm)
All these Chanakiyan moves seem to indicate that the Hooda government in Haryana has convinced itself that the Punjabis (read Sikhs) are so fixated on the SYL canal issue that they won't notice the threat to the Punjab from the proposed Sirsa-Hansi Link canal located inside Haryana territory. The Haryana government also seems to be confident that the anti/Punjab officials of the Bhakra Beas Management Board, (who have full control over the Bhakra Nangal dam and Nangal headworks unlike the Ropar, Harike and Ferozepore headworks which are controlled by the state of Punjab) could secretly increase the outflow in the Bhakra main line canal by 2, 000 cusecs of Ravi/ Beas water for this new Sirsa-Hansi canal project project, without the knowledge of Punjab and to its deteriment.
We urge the Punjab administration of Captain Amrinder Singh, (and each and every Sikh political leader ought to join him) to thwart this evil Chanakiyan conspiracy by non-riparian Haryana, which threatens the life-giving water resource of the future generations of the Sikh Homelend. The only peaceful way to counter this evil undrerhanded scheme by non-riparian Haryana is to re-establish Punjabs' control over the Nangal headworks (a la Ropar, Harike and Ferozepore headworks) and increase Punjabi presence on the Bhakra Dam where over the years Punjab's influence has been reduced to the minimum, by the systematic weeding out of Sikh engineers.
If the peaceful efforts by Punjab leaders fail to convince the jingoistic Haryana leadership to shelve the very provocative Sirsa-Hansi link canal project then, as everybody knows, we Punjabis have the political will, and technical expertise to resort to other means to protect our common interests. "Youth, beauty, graceful action seldon fail; But common interest always will prevail," wrote the 17th century English poet, critic and dramatist. We Punjabis have no choice. Our common interest will prevail.