Punjab's SYL Landowners To Get Richer As The Dispute Gets Murkier

Chandigarh: Landowners along the 122km stretch of land in Punjab acquired for the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal are about to become suddenly richer.

The Punjab government has decided to return all land to original owners and not take back the compensation that had been paid out when the land was acquired.

The move is in defiance of the Supreme Court's opinion to the President that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, which stopped river water sharing with Haryana, is illegal.

The issue has acquired political colour as the state heads for assembly elections in 2017.

The Congress says not a drop of Punjab's waters will be shared with Haryana through the now stalled Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal. Shiromani Akali Dal's Sukhbir Badal speaking to CNN News18 said that he will hold on to Punjab's waters till his last drop of blood. His father, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, says not an inch of land will be spared for a canal that should never have been proposed.

General secretary of the Youth Akali Dal (YAD) and OSD to the Deputy Chief Minister, Parminder Singh, said, “’Damocles’ sword’ of SYL hanging over the agrarian community of Punjab has just disappeared with a single stroke of SAD- government this week.”

Hitting out at Congress legislators who had submitted resignations along with PPCC President Captain Amarinder Singh and then rushed to Delhi to meet the President of India, Parminder said all acts of Congress are aimed at deriving political mileage in the wake of impending assembly polls in the state.

“Their resignation was not worth the paper on which it was written,” he said, adding that the state assembly itself was on its last leg and would be dissolved following assembly elections.

Captain hit back and accused the Akalis of indulging in politicisation of the SYL issue. He asked Harsimrat Kaur Badal and other SAD MPs to resign to prove their sincerity to the people of the state on the SYL issue on Friday.

“Why hasn’t Harsimrat resigned from Parliament and the Union Cabinet? Why are the other Akali MPs not willing to give up their membership?” he asked, adding, “Do they have no pain for Punjab?”

For agriculture dependent and water starved Punjab, endorsing the SYL and sharing river water with other states is an issue that no party can afford to support.