Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda spoke out on Saturday about the state government misleading farmers and the state regarding the construction of the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal. The SYL canal is a long-standing contentious issue between Haryana and Punjab regarding the sharing of river waters. Hooda believes that the Supreme Court has already made a decision in favor of Haryana and it is now the government’s responsibility to implement this decision.
Hooda criticized the current BJP-JJP government for not implementing the Supreme Court’s decision and delaying the matter by suggesting that the SYL water will come to Haryana via Himachal. He questioned why the government is not filing a contempt case in the Supreme Court and why they are not talking about bringing Haryana’s water through the SYL canal built in Punjab.
Last year, the Vidhan Sabha passed a resolution seeking completion of the SYL canal, which had been unanimously passed on at least seven occasions. Due to non-completion of the SYL canal, Haryana is only using 1.62 MAF of water despite being allocated 3.5 MAF of water under the provision of Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966.
In October last year, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Khattar had failed to reach a consensus over the SYL canal issue during a meeting in Chandigarh after the Supreme Court had asked them to meet and find an amicable solution. Mann had stated that Punjab has no surplus water to share with Haryana and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to provide additional water to Haryana either from the Ganga or Yamuna river basins.
Hooda also objected to cooperative banks charging interest on crop loans from farmers. During the Congress tenure, interest was reduced to zero while giving relief to farmers on crop loans.
