Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here on Thursday that the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal was the right of Haryana which will help Irrigation on more than 10 lakh acres of land in the state.
Reacting to the Supreme Court directive to the Union government to conduct the survey of the land meant for the construction of the SYL canal in Punjab to know how much work has been done, the Congress leader said the SYL case is stuck till date due to the negative attitude of the Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state.
“The Supreme Court had given a clear verdict in favor of Haryana in February 2017 itself. After this, the Supreme Court gave clear instructions to the Punjab, Haryana, and Central governments in July 2020. Congress has repeatedly said that the Punjab government is disregarding the decision of the Supreme Court, but the Haryana government kept wasting time by holding inconclusive meetings. Now the Supreme Court has once again reiterated its decision. But surprisingly, ignoring the issue of taking Haryana’s rightful share of water, the Chief Minister (Khattar) is considering it only as a matter of canal construction,” Hooda said.
The former CM said due to the non-availability of SYL water, underground water is being over-exploited and the water level has gone down rapidly. “Dadupur-Nalvi canal was constructed during the Congress government only to recharge the groundwater level, but it is unfortunate that the BJP government has tried to fill this too,” he said.
“During the Congress government, the Hansi-Butana canal was built, through which the water of Bhakra was to be supplied to Haryana. But the BJP government did not even make any effort to bring water into it. The state government did not consider it necessary to pursue this case in the court. Similarly, many years ago the Supreme Court had given a decision in favor of Haryana on SYL. Still, the state government has been sitting idle,” Hooda added.
The Congress leader said instead of trying to find politics in this issue, the Khattar government should try to understand the interests of the state.
“If the government takes any step to provide water to Haryana, then Congress will rise above politics and stand with the government. But if the government continues to adopt this wavering attitude, then Congress will oppose it and will raise its voice to defend the interests of the state,” he said.
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