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Akali Dal's belated opposition to water dispute bill


Has Harsimrat Kaur Badal recorded her dissent against waters bill?

Chandigarh, August 5: The Shiromani Akali Dal has once again taken the confusing position that the party would not allow a single drop of water from the state rivers to flow to any other state of the country as there is no surplus available with Punjab.
The resolve was reiterated at an emergency meeting of its political affairs committee meeting in Delhi last evening. As a follow up, a party delegation led by its president and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal met union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat today with a detailed presentation opposing the Inter State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2019 in the present form. The Bill has already been adopted in the Lok Sabha.
The adoption of the bill in the Lok Sabha raises two basic issues in the context of Akali Dal’s belated move as the party is in alliance with the BJP in Narendra Modi government.
Did Akali Dal’s representative in the union cabinet Harsimrat Kaur Badal record her dissent against the Bill at any stage?
Did the party oppose it in Lok Sabha?
The Akali Dal should answer these two issues.
The Akali Dal when part of the government at the centre, has the history of not sticking to any stand on the very issues  that it would take up when not in power. The dismal record of the party is testimony to this fact.
Another dimension is the resolve not to allow a drop of water to flow to the neighbouring states.
The Akali Dal has been misleading the people and creating tension in Haryana and Rajasthan by making such statements over the years. The issue has been mainly that of Satluj Yamuna Link Canal. Moreover, Haryana has been getting more than one MAF of its allocation that was to flow through this career channel.
It is pertinent to point out that water started flowing to Rajasthan under the Bhakra Canal project years before the Rajasthan Feeder was completed. One branch of Bhakra canal from Tohana headworks flows to Rajasthan. Tohana head is now in Haryana. Moreover, Bhakra has been a joint project involving Punjab and Rajasthan from the very beginning. That was the first violation of Riparian principle after 1947 so far as the Punjab rivers are concerned. Rajasthan Feeder was constructed after 8.MAF was allocated to Rajasthan under the 1955 agreement. This allocation was made  on the basis of share demanded by the respective governments. This was in the background of dispute with Pakistan.
Water flows to Rajasthan and Haryana through Bhakra canal system and Rajasthan Canal under the post partition arrangement and this flow can’t be stopped. More than 70 per cent of the water from Punjab rivers flows to Haryana and Rajasthan under this arrangement and Akali Dal continues to talk of not allowing a drop of water to flow out. This is why it is misleading.
The only issue is the SYL Canal. The irony is that the first notice to acuire land for this project was issued in 1978 when the chief minister was Parkash Singh Badal. And it was again Akali Dal that committed itself to construct this canal under the Rajiv-Longowal accord. The construction stopped after intervention by the militants in 1992.


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