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SYL canal issue: Police use water cannons against Cong workers
The Congress workers started from the party’s state headquarters here to meet governor Banwarilal Purohit and hand over a memorandum urging him to stand with Punjab on the issue of construction of SYL canal
Police on Monday used water cannons to disperse hundreds of Congress workers marching towards the Punjab Raj Bhawan here over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.
The Congress workers started from the party’s state headquarters here to meet governor Banwarilal Purohit and hand over a memorandum urging him to stand with Punjab on the issue of construction of SYL canal.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, former speaker Rana KP Singh and MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh were among the party leaders present. They were not allowed to proceed to the governor’s house by the Chandigarh police, which had put up barricades. When the Congress workers tried to break through the barriers, the police used water cannon to stop them.
Police also detained several party leaders and workers and took them to Sector 17 police station. They were later released.
Addressing the party workers outside the party headquarters earlier, Bajwa said Punjab does not have any surplus water to share with any other state. “We will not allow the canal to be constructed and also not allow a single drop of additional water go out of Punjab at any cost,” he said.
The LoP accused the AAP government of being hand in glove with the BJP government at the Centre. “Punjab has gone through turmoil for around 15 years and one of the leading causes was the SYL canal,” he said, urging the governor to ensure that the state does not plunge into turmoil once again. He also slammed the police action against peacefully protesting Congress leaders and workers.
Hitting out at the Central government for “acting against the interests” of Punjab, Warring appealed to the governor to write a letter to the Centre informing them about the ground situation and that the state does not have any water to spare.
“Already, 70% of our water is given to neighboring states. It is totally unjust to demand any more water from us,” the PPCC chief said. The Congress leaders also targeted the AAP government, alleging that it had failed to safeguard the interests of the state over the SYL issue. The Mann-led state government has been under fire from the Opposition parties on this issue following the direction of the Supreme Court to the Centre to survey the portion of land in the state that was allocated for the construction of Punjab portion of the canal.
