Chandigarh: The Ravi-Beas Waters Tribunal (RBWT) visit to Ropar was cancelled on Friday following protests by farmers’ union which held that RBWT inspection was an attempt by the Union government to push forward the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal project.
SYL Inspection Planned
The RBWT delegation which was scheduled to visit Lohand Khad near Kiratpur Sahib in Ropar district to inspect the stalled construction of SYL canal, cancelled the same in the wake of protest of farmers’ Kirti Kisan Union, members of which also blocked the Chandigarh-Una national highway against SYL canal project. The farmers’ demonstrations also badly hit the traffic movement on the key routes of the district.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, the Ropar district officials said that while the tribunal members who planned the inspection on the direction of the top court, could not visit the said site, the administration would now reschedule their visit after consulting the tribunal members.
Scarcity Cited
Pertinently, Punjab farmers have opposed the SYL canal project through which the water of the Ravi and Beas rivers was to be distributed with other states - Haryana and Rajasthan, stating that Punjab itself was already facing acute scarcity of water and thus had no water to share with any state.
For record, the dispute over the allocation of the water of Ravi and Beas dates back to 1955 when it was first made during an inter-state conference and after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966 disagreements also arose between Punjab and the newly created Haryana state from Punjab. The RBWT was constituted in 1986 pursuant to the Rajiv-Longowal Accord to settle the issues. The said dispute remains one of the country’s longest-running inter-state river rows.
