BJP govt unable to take a firm stand in Haryana's favour on SYL claims Bhupinder Hooda

Chandigarh, Aug 7 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday alleged the ruling BJP was unable to take a firm stand in Haryana's favour on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue and claimed the state was yet to get its rightful share of water.
    Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann participated in a meeting in the national capital called by Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil in Delhi over the SYL canal issue on Tuesday.
    During the meeting, Mann urged the Centre to utilise the waters of the Chenab River instead to resolve the water-sharing dispute and sought scrapping of the canal project.
    Speaking to mediapersons here, former Haryana chief minister Hooda said, "the BJP is ruling at the Centre, in Haryana, then why is the SYL not being constructed? It is because Haryana government is unable to take a firm stand in the state's favour".
    Hooda said the Haryana government should have filed a contempt petition against Punjab as the Supreme Court had ruled in Haryana's favour long ago.
    "The court had handed over the responsibility of getting Haryana's share of water to the central government. There is a BJP government both in Haryana and at the Centre. In such a situation, Haryana should have got its share of water by now, but it hasn't, which means the BJP government is unable to protect the state's rights," he claimed.
    He said the Congress had repeatedly pointed out that Punjab was defying the apex court's ruling.
    Commenting on the recent meeting, Hooda said Chief Minister Saini claimed the discussions were cordial and constructive. However, he said many such meetings had taken place in the past and Punjab has repeatedly maintained that it has no water to spare.
    "Punjab has repeatedly maintained that it does not have a drop to spare," he said. SYL water is the right of Haryana, Hooda asserted. He underscored the critical significance of the SYL canal for Haryana and said its construction is the rightful entitlement of people of Haryana.
    When asked that Bhagwant Mann had urged the Centre to utilise the waters of the Chenab River to resolve the water-sharing dispute between two neighbouring states, Hooda said this was not a practical solution to the problem.
    The SYL canal issue has been a bone of contention between the two states for the past several years and it was conceptualised for the effective sharing of water between the two states from the Ravi and Beas rivers.
    The project envisages a 214-kilometre canal, of which a 122-kilometre stretch was to be constructed in Punjab and the remaining 92 kilometres in Haryana.
    While Haryana has completed construction on its side, Punjab shelved the project after launching work in 1982. Haryana was carved out of Punjab on November 1, 1966.
    Touching upon the farmers issue, Hooda said the farmers of Haryana are continuously getting "buried under debt".
    "Today, every farmer in the state has a debt of Rs 1,82,922. Whereas the average debt of a farmer in the whole country is Rs 74,000," he claimed.
    He further said the input costs have gone up manifold for the farmers, but the rate of their crops has not increased in proportion.
    Hooda also attacked the Saini government over the issue of increase in collector rate for property registration. He said that by increasing the collector rate, the BJP government has once again taken a decision "to push dreams of building a house, out of the reach of an average middle-class and poor families".
    Expressing concern over law and order, he alleged that every resident of the state is living under the shadow of fear. Murders in broad daylight have become so common. Crimes against every section including women and Dalits are increasing, he alleged.
    Hooda further alleged the BJP government is also destroying its own Ayushman Bharat Yojana, "as the government owes crores of rupees to private hospitals in Haryana.
    "The government has not cleared its dues for a long time. Due to this, the Indian Medical Association has refused to treat the Ayushman card holders from today. In such a situation, the lives of poor people getting treatment in hospitals or reaching for treatment are in danger".

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)