A Window To Perceptive Journalism

Amarinder demanded in '87
what Akalis demand now:
Rejection of all past pacts

S P Singh

NOTWITHSTANDING the new-found reconciliation approach on the SYL issue, Akalis and Congress are poles apart on the strategy, and as Parkash Singh Badal leads the campaign for rejection of all earlier agreements on waters division, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is not picking up the bait, limiting himself to talk about a new Tribunal. 

But this stance of Amarinder Singh is of veery recent vintage. Till a few years ago, Amarinder was convinced that all the agreements reached among the water-sharing states did not reflect the will of the people, and the one brokered by Indira Gandhi in end-1981 was "more of a political sop." 

In fact, he is on record demanding even an end to the flow of water to Rajasthan, a state to which he himself directed release of more water after noticing scarcity of water on one his recent visits there. 

Virtually demanding in 1987 what Akalis are demanding now – rejection of all earlier agreements of 1955, 1976 and 1981 – Amarinder not only maintained but even wrote a long article titled Rivers issue: beyond Eradi report in an English daily, to conclude that "the option open today is really only one, and that is to allow Punjab the use of its own rivers, and to provide Haryana water from surplus water of Yamuna and Ganga, and Rajasthan the water from Narmada." 

In Amarinder's own words, penned in the summer of 1987, "(T)he much quoted figures of allocations of 1955, 1976 and 1981 are not inter-state agreements, made with the will of the people."

He slams the 1955 allocations for resulting from a meeting "where no agreement was concluded, nor were the minutes of the meeting laid down on the table of Punjab Legislature." The 1976 allocation also got the royal rap: "The Central Government order of 24.3,76 ... arbitrarily distributed the entire Ravi-Beas surplus water, based on the decision taken in 1955." 

Amarinder's rejection of 1981 award, known as Indira award, is much more strong: "The agreement between three Congress Chief Ministers on 31.12.81 was more a political sop, as the water purported to be distributed did not exist, a situation the then Chief Minister Darbara Singh was induced to accept." Thus, Amarinder's stance was crystal clear, no ambiguities at all – rejection of earlier pacts and sole Punjab right over its rivers, something that Akalis demand now. But then Amarinder has changed parties since, and convictions too perhaps! 

June 14, 2004 ■

Also See:

― Govt plans legislation to escape SYL
― Govt mulled tweaking 131-yr-old Act for SYL 
― CM to meet Sorabjee today 
― Punjab annuls all Ravi-Beas pacts...
― My days numbered, said CM 
― SYL: Centre’s eyes were wide shut 
― How CM’s Team Legal found an enabling loophole 
― Experts say Punjab Act dilutes riparian concept 
― Capt plays to the gallery, works the back-channels
― Capt finds solace in Narmada Tribunal’s report
― State suggested Presidential Reference
― ‘Presidential Reference is good news’
― Capt changes tune

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