M A I N   N E W S

Punjab releases water in re-lined Gang canal
Amarinder defends disinvestment
Varinder Walia and Anirudh Gupta

Balewala Headworks (Ferozepore), July 30
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today kickstarted campaign of his party for the elections, scheduled for November (in Rajasthan), by seeking water for his state from the remodelled Gang (Bikaner) canal in this sleepy village of Punjab after performing religious ceremony (Ardas and puja) at the site here today.

The Gang canal, commissioned in 1928, after an agreement reached between Maharaja Ganga Singh and the British government, was remodelled after 75 years. Mr Gehlot described the event as historical and expressed indebtedness to Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, Punjab.

Replying to a query on blanket ban on the purchase of immoveable property by outsiders in Rajasthan, Mr Ashok Gehlot admitted that certain restrictions were imposed by the State Government on buying land in Rajasthan because the residents of Rajasthan were preferred to outsiders as a policy. He promised to look into the matter and lift the ban to enable the people of other States to buy property in the state. Replying a question, Mr Gehlot said he would reciprocate the gesture of Punjab.

Earlier too, Punjab had released water for Rajasthan on May 15 as a goodwill gesture. Captain Amarinder Singh had also flagged off 15 truck-loads of fodder and wheat for drought-hit residents of Rajasthan on June 5 from Bathinda. Mr Balram Jakhar, former Lok Sabha Speaker and chairman, farmers and labour wing of the AICC, was also present on the occasion. Mr Surinder Singla, chairman High-powered Committee on Fiscal Reforms, justified the remodelling and release of water to Rajasthan on the plea that Mr Parkash Singh Badal had released more water during his stint as Chief Minister of the state than the Congress government.

He said after a long gap of 75 years (when Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner got the water released for Rajasthan), another ‘Maharaja’ (Capt Amarinder Singh) from Punjab came to the rescue of the poor residents of Rajasthan.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jakhar said that Capt Amarinder Singh would be remembered by the residents of Rajasthan as a ‘god Indra’ (god of rain) for completing the remodelling of the canal in time.

Capt Amarinder Singh said that the ban on the purchase of land in Rajasthan was imposed in eighties but he would use his good offices to get it lifted at the earliest. However, he parried a question on the completion of SYL canal on the pretext that the matter was sub judice.

Ms Kamla, Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, said that with the completion of the remodelling of the canal, her state would be able to save at least 7,000 cusecs of water.

Remodelling of the canal had been mired in a controversy as allegations of corruption were levelled by the Opposition in Rajasthan. Payment of crores is still pending which is to be released to the contractors. The canal was not able to take authorised discharge for the past several years due to collapse of lining. Consequently, Bikaner canal was remodelled and relined under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) of the Government of India with design discharge of 3,027 cusecs. The project cost (Punjab portion) was Rs 165.07 crore. Out of the total length of 98.63 km of the canal in Punjab, 71.86 km had been remodelled on the basis of the deposit work by the Punjab Irrigation Department at a cost of Rs 72.07 crore during the current year. The cost of the project had been borne by the Government of Rajasthan.

Replying to a question on the controversy of the prospects of Bathinda Refinery raised by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, former Chief Minister in the media, Capt Amarinder Singh said that Mr Badal himself was not clear on the nitty-gritty of the project. He was misleading people for his vested and political ends. Clarifying the position, Capt Amarinder said that if at all HPCL was disinvested by the Government of India then certainly the future of Bathinda Refinery was bleak. He said that we never know who would buy HPCL in the disinvestment process and this was also posing a big question mark on the future of the Refinery. Because, tomorrow if some other company buys HPCL which had already a major refinery in the country would be least interested to invest a huge Rs 16,000 crore in this mega project, rather it would be interested to set up its supply station by which the state government would incur a net loss of Rs 700 crore by way of Sales Tax and Excise.

On the other hand, if the refinery was set up as per the plan it would generate an additional income of Rs 700 crore. Capt Amarinder Singh said that he had suggested to the Government of India several times to hand over the Bathinda Refinery project to the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) as it had funds and technical know-how, expertise and infrastructure to dispel the uncertainty on the future of the project.