Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Tuesday urged the Centre to place INLD leader Abhay Chautala in preventive custody for threatening to dig the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal on the Punjab-Haryana border February 23.

The Congress chief also demanded deployment of armed forces at the border between the two neighbouring states to prevent any untoward incident.

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Pointing out that the SYL issue had the potential to trigger the revival of terrorism in Punjab, Amarinder Singh said that the intelligence reports endorsing his apprehensions necessitated a strong crackdown on INLD, which is Haryana's main opposition party, and its leaders before the situation goes out of hand.

Amarinder Singh also sought the cancellation of INLD patriarch Om Prakash Chautala’s parole to control the situation.

Chautala, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, announced that thousands of INLD supporters will march from Ambala in Haryana to the Shambhu barrier, on the boundary of Haryana and Punjab, and start digging of the SYL canal.

Refusing to accept a ruling of the Supreme Court given in November 2016 which held the termination of water sharing agreements as "unconstitutional", the Punjab government has pitted itself to confront the court verdict.

The Punjab Assembly had in 2004 passed the controversial 'Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Bill' to end all water-sharing laws with other states.