Latest News | Punjab BJP Holds Protest Against AAP Govt over SYL Issue

Chandigarh, Oct 7 (PTI) The Punjab BJP on Saturday held a protest over the issue of the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal, accusing the AAP government of failing to safeguard the state's interest in river waters.

The opposition party asserted that Punjab does not have water to share with any other state.

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Led by Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, several senior party leaders including Union minister Som Parkash held a protest near the official residence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Former Union minister Vijay Sampla, former MP Avinash Rai Khanna, former deputy speaker of Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal and former minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi also joined the protest.

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They were not allowed to head towards the residence of the chief minister by police. Later, police detained the Punjab BJP leaders.

Speaking to reporters, Jakhar alleged the Bhagwant Mann government backstabbed the people of Punjab over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) issue under a deep-rooted conspiracy.

The government "weakened" Punjab's stand in the Supreme Court over the SYL issue, he alleged.

In the apex court, the state government stated it was ready to build the canal but the opposition parties and farmers were opposing it, he further alleged.

But Mann kept saying in public that there was not even a single drop of water to share with any other state, said Jakhar, accusing the AAP government of having double standards.

"The Mann government betrayed Punjab and Punjab's interests. They messed around with (the state's interest in) Punjab's waters. Under a conspiracy, they presented a weak stand of Punjab which led the Supreme Court to give these directions," he said.

Jakhar said the chief minister should seek an apology from the people of Punjab for "defrauding" the state's interests, adding that Mann does not have the moral right to continue as the chief minister.

"Punjab's waters are safe and not a single drop of water will be allowed to flow out of the state," he said.

The BJP leader also slammed the AAP government over the "deteriorating" law and order in the state. "Only gangsters are feeling safe in the state," he alleged.

Earlier, the Punjab BJP held its core committee meeting at the party's headquarters and discussed the SYL issue.

On October 4, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to survey the portion of land in Punjab which was allocated for the construction of part of the SYL canal in the state and make an estimate of the extent of construction carried out there.

The SYL canal was conceptualised for the effective allocation of water from the Ravi and Beas rivers. The project envisaged a 214-km canal, of which a 122-km stretch was to be constructed in Punjab and the remaining 92 km in Haryana.

Haryana has completed the project in its territory but Punjab, which launched the construction work in 1982, shelved it subsequently.

The SYL has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for the past several years.

Punjab has been maintaining that the quantum of water flowing through the Ravi and Beas rivers had come down considerably and therefore, it was seeking a reassessment of the water's volume.

Haryana has been seeking the completion of the canal to get its share of 3.5 million acre-feet of the water, and also that Punjab should comply with the 2002 and 2004 Supreme Court orders for the completion of the canal.

Last year, the Supreme Court had nudged the two chief ministers to meet and work out an amicable solution to the SYL canal row.

However, both Punjab CM Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar failed to make any headway.

The Punjab Assembly in July 2004 enacted the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, annulling all inter-state agreements signed by the state relating to the sharing of water from the Ravi and Beas.

However, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, while answering the Presidential Reference on November 11, 2016, held that the act was unconstitutional.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)