Sutlej Yamuna link canal

History

After the partition of India in 1947 into Pakistan and India, the Indus basin was bisected with India gaining the upper reaches of the Indus river and its tributaries while Pakistan gained the lower reaches. This led to a situation in which utlisation and development of water resources in one country would hamper the same in another. While negotiations for resolving the dispute were in progress in 1954, activities had already started in India in anticipation of a treaty. Although the issue of water of Sutlej river was resolved through the Bhakra Nangal project, the issue of surplus waters of Ravi river and Beas river excluding the pre-Partition use remained. On 29 January 1955, the states of Punjab, PEPSU, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir came to an agreement regarding the distribution of water from the rivers, with Punjab being allocated 5.9 MAF (million acre-feet) and PEPSU gaining 1.3 MAF out of the estimated 15.85 MAF of water while Rajasthan gained 8 MAF and Jammu and Kashmir gaining the remaining 0.65 MAF. With the merger of Punjab and PEPSU in 1956, the total share of Punjab became 7.2 MAF. The Indus Water Treaty reached in 1960 allowed India unrestricted use of water from Sutlej, Ravi and Beas.

The dispute regarding sharing of river water emerged after Punjab was reorganised in 1966, and the state of Haryana was created. Haryana demanded 4.8 MAF out of Punjab's total 7.2 MAF share of water from the rivers, while Punjab claimed the entire quantity belonged to it. Haryana asked the Union government to intervene as no agreement could be reached. In 1976, when the country was under an internal emergency, an executive order was issued by the Union government which allocated 3.5 MAF of water to both states while Delhi received the remaining 0.2 MAF. In order to make full use of the allocated water, a Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal was proposed. The decision was met with opposition in Punjab. Opposition groups included AISSF, Damdami Taksal, Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Liberation Force, and Shromani Akali Dal. The opposition to the project were mainly headed by the Damdami Taksal, led by 'Sant' Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. After coming to power in 1977, the Shiromani Akali Dal demanded that the water sharing between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan be adjudicated by Supreme Court and filed a suit against the order of the Uniom government. The construction of canal was started in the same year by the Akali Dal government under Chief Minister of Punjab Prakash Singh Badal. The Haryana government led by Chaudhary Devi Lal provided Rs. 10,000,000 to the Punjab government for this purpose. The government later issued a notification to acquire land for the SYL canal. The construction of the canal's portion in Haryana was completed by June 1980.

After the Indian National Congress came to power in Punjab in 1980, an agreement was reached on 31 December 1981 between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, which were all under INC rule, with Darbara Singh being the Chief Minister of Punjab and Indira Gandhi being the Prime Minister of India. Under the agreement, Punjab's share was increased to 4.22 MAF and that of Rajasthan to 8.6 MAF while the share of Haryana from the revised 17.17 MAF of water remained the same. All states withdrew their suits from the Supreme Court following the signing of agreement. On 8 April 1982, Indira Gandhi formally launched the construction of the canal at Kapoori village of Punjab in 1982. On 23 April, the Punjab government issued a white paper hailing the agreement. Per the terms reached under Punjab accord, a tribunal was to be set up to investigate the river water claims of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. The Akali Dal came back to power in Punjab in October 1985 and on 5 November 1985, the newly-elected Punjab Legislative Assembly repudiated the 1981 agreement. The Ravi and Beas Waters Tribunal (also known as Eradi Tribunal after its chair V. Balakrishna Eradi) was constituted on 2 April 1986. On 30 January 1987, the tribunal upheld the legality of the agreements of 1955, 1976 and 1981. It also increased shares of both Punjab and Haryana, allocating them 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF respectively. It also noted that while the canal's portion had been completed in Haryana, the portion in Punjab wasn't and urged that it be completed expeditiously. The Akali Dal government in Punjab under Surjit Singh Barnala started the construction of the canal, which was done so by 1990.

The construction was stopped in July 1990 after a Chief Engineer associated with its construction was shot dead by militants. The canal remained uncompleted due to dispute over the issue. In 1999, Haryana filed a suit in the Supreme Court seeking construction of the canal. In 2002, the Supreme Court directed Punjab to complete the SYL canal within a year. Punjab refused to do so and petitioned for a review of the court order which was rejected. In 2004, the Supreme Court directed the Union government to get the canal completed through a central agency. The Central Public Works Department was appointed on 2 July 2004 to take over the canal work from Punjab government. However on 12 July 2004, the Punjab Legislative Assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 which abrogated all its river water agreements with neighbouring states. The President of India then referred this bill to the Supreme Court in the same year.

The court began hearings on the bill by the Punjab Assembly on 7 March 2016. On 15 March 2016, the Punjab Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the Punjab Satluj Yamuna Link Canal Land (Transfer of Proprietary Rights) Bill, 2016, proposing to return the land that had been taken from owners for building the SYL canal. On 18 March, the Supreme Court ordered the Punjab government to maintain status quo on the land meant for construction of the canal. On 10 November, the court gave its opinion that Punjab government's 2004 bill which terminated river water agreements was illegal. On 15 November, the government passed an executive order, denotifying the land meant for the digging of the canal and returned it to its original owners through notification issued by Punjab's financial commissioner of revenue K.B.S. Sidhu, utilising revenue powers that rests with an IAS officer. Punjab's Legislative Assembly also passed a resolution on the next day, demanding royalties for river water supplied to its non-riparian neighbors Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. All of the denotified land was returned by 20 November. A status quo was however again ordered by the Supreme Court relating to the land on 30 November.

On 22 February 2017, the Supreme Court stated that the Government of Punjab will have to abide by its order on construction of SYL canal and will pass a decree if the governments of Punjab and Haryana failed to come to an agreement.

Status of the project

The canal is 85% complete with Haryana government completing its part of the canal. It has completed 92 km of canal in its land. Haryana would benefit enormously by gaining water from Ravi-Beas from Punjab. On 30 November 2016, the Supreme Court appointed the Union Home Secretary, Punjab's Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police as receivers for submitting a report on the present status of land and other properties on the canal site by 15 December. The receivers submitted their reports as per schedule, stating in the reports that there was no fresh or deliberate damage to the canal.

Protests

The Shiromani Akali Dal held a protest over the SYL issue on 12 April 2016 in Ludhiana, whilst accusing national convenor of Aam Aadmi Party and Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and his government of "double-speak" and "anti-Punjab stand". On 11 November 2016, all Indian National Congress MLAs of the Punjab Legislative Assembly resigned in protest at the Supreme Court's decision that the state's termination of the link canal was unconstitutional. Aam Aadmi Party began an indefinite protest on the same day at Kapoori village, blaming both the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress for SYL. Apprehending law and order problem over the issue, the Punjab Police deployed the Rapid Action Force in parts of Punjab, sealed the border with Haryana and increased patrolling on the National Highway-1 on 12 November. A Congress rally was organised on 13 November at Khuian Sarwar village. President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Amarinder Singh declared that not a single drop a water will go out of Punjab while also announcing that a Congress delegation including MPs and MLAs would meet President of India Pranab Mukherjee on the issue. The delegation met the President on 17 November, urging him to form a panel to look into the SYL issue and direct the Union government to consider ground realities and water availability in the state before taking any action on advice of the Supreme Court. Amarinder resigned from Lok Sabha on 23 November in protest against the issue. A delegation of Punjab government's ministers met the President on 28 November, urging him not to accept any advice against the riparian water rights. The Akali Dal held a rally at Moga on 8 December regarding the issue. Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal stated that the controversy had been resolved after hiving back the land meant for the canal to the original owners. He also stated that Punjab didn't have a single drop of water to spare.

In January 2017, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) announced that it will dig the canal itself on 23 February. In response, Punjab's government heightened security along the Punjab-Haryana border. On 23 February, INLD along with its supporters entered Punjab to start the digging of the canal. More than 70 of its leaders were arrested by the Punjab Police for violating prohibitory orders.