Latest conspiracy on the SYL canal issue - A new canal in Haryana
Manmohan Singh government says it won't take up the SYL dispute under the riparian principle.
Punjab government MUST recapture its eroded influence at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to thwart this new conspiracy against the Sikh Homeland's water resource.
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, April 06, 2005 - Following the rejection last month, by the new Haryana Chief minister, of the Punjab government's offer to negotiate the river water dispute (SYL) with non-riparian Haryana a new and very dangerous conspiracy - a typical underhanded Chanakiyan plot - is brewing in non-riparian Congress-ruled Haryana state, to steal Punjab's life-giving river waters surreptitiously. A secret plan!A Secret plan to siphon Punjab's river water by releasing extra water into the Bhakra canal unfolded when, in a spirit of good faith, the Punjab Governor S. F. Rodrigues (a former Indian Army Chief) in his address 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. He said that, "there have all along been misgivings as to the fairness of the manner in which waters of Punjab state’s rivers are sought to be allocated." This magnanimous gesture, by the Punjab Governor, clearly reflected a goodwill move by the Congress party-run Punjab 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 state law, legally nullified - within the boundaries of the Indian constitution - all unequal illegal agreements/ understanding on sharing of Punjab's Ravi/ Beas river waters, now being coveted by non-riparian Haryana in addition to the Sutlej river waters it has been stealing for decades free of charge.
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 by the Tribune newspaper, (> http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050323/main6.htm <) 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." Hooda's 'in your face' reaction was in marked contrast to his earlier brief interaction with journalists, when he said that his, 'priorities would be to resolve the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal imbroglio.' Something had changed during the week.
For a background and details of the 'Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004' please read Khalistan Calling dated July 14, 2004, headlined, "Punjab Assembly unanimously passes the historic 'Punjab Termination of Agreements Bill, 2004', on July 12, which cancels ALL past unequal agreements about Ravi/Beas waters" by clicking at: > /Main/K_Calling/kc07142004.htm < For a general background and all you ever wanted to know about the over thirty years-long dispute on the proposed SYL canal please click at: < /Main/K_Calling/kc06092004.htm >)
The belligerent reaction of the newly elected Haryana Chief minister to the fair and magnanimous offer of the Punjab government, to discuss the SYL issue, has closely followed the alarming partisan behaviour of the Indian Supreme Court, (See Khalistan Calling dated March 03, 2005, headlined, "Is Indian Supreme Court playing games on the SYL issue?" > /Main/K_Calling/kc03022005.htm <)
According to some other media reports the Union Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dass in a written reply to a question, on the inter-state water disputes between Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan and other neighbouring states, has taken a new position when he told the Lok Sabha (Indian parliament) on March 15, 2005, 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," which clearly indicates the anti-Punjab direction of the Manmohan Singh government's thinking in New Delhi as well. (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," at: > http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050316/nation.htm#16 <) All these concurrent developments increased our suspicions. We therefore, contacted our inside sources in Haryana to get to work and find out as to what's cooking on the SYL issue in Haryana?
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 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. The new canal project would cost no more than three hundred crore rupees, they claim, and would carry water to Southern Haryana. These Haryana Congress leaders, our sources tell us, have already had some experts carry out a study on the proposed project. 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 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 farmlands where the underground water is falling rapidly because of over use and lack of natural recharge. These Congress leaders, our sources report, are demanding that Haryana state allocate funds (300 crores) for the new canal in the budget to be presented in the Haryana state assembly in June, a few weeks from now, when the 'cat should be out of the bag'.
We urge the Punjab administration of Captain Amrinder Singh to better wake up to this new Chanakiyan conspiracy, nay threat to the life-giving water resource of the Sikh Homelend, and re-establish control over the Nangal headworks where Punjab's influence has been reduced to the minimum over the years, because of Punjabi lethargy, lack of far sightedness and weeding out of Punjabi engineers.
More than that, everyone (the Hindu jingoists of non-riparian Haryana & Rajasthan and Sikh patriots of the Punjab) ought to have a good looksee at an American film, the 1978 Guy Hamilton movie, "Force 10 from Navarone," directed by Guy Hamilton and produced by David Orton with actors Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Edward Fox & Barbara Bach. The colour movie - an excellent tutorial - shows a spectacular behind the front lines Allied operation, in German occupied Yugoslavia, during World War II in the 1940's, where a two-man demolition squad effectively used the natural force of stored water to make rubble out of a huge German-defended concrete dam on a river.