Chandigarh, June 4
Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today greeted the Supreme Court order on the SYL canal, saying that his father, the late Mr Devi Lal, had a “dream” of seeing the canal functional. Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, went one step ahead, saying that the “historic occasion” had been made possible entirely due to the efforts of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Mr Sampat Singh alleged the Congress had lost vital time in the construction of the SYL canal. He claimed that even the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) regime had not made serious efforts to pursue the matter in the court.

Mr Chautala urged the Congress Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, to “show graciousness” and not delay the construction of the canal. Mr Chautala also made a dig at the Congress Lok Sabha members of Haryana, saying that he would now expect the Haryana MPs to use their influence and persuade the Centre as well as the Punjab Government to complete the canal at the earliest.

Mr Bhajan Lal, chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) and former Chief Minister, described the judgement as historic, adding that he was happy that a project initiated by him was going to be functional very soon and carry water to the deficit areas of Haryana. Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Bhajan Lal said, did not do anything for completion of the canal when his friend, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, was the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Hailing the court order, HVP chief Bansi Lal said the SYL project was conceived in 1969 when he was the Chief Minister of Haryana. A major portion of the SYL canal in Haryana was completed during his stints as the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal said, adding that his government had filed an amended writ petition in the Supreme Court on September 6, 1996, which resulted in today’s order favourable to Haryana.

Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MP, a former HPCC chief, said the Supreme Court order was inspired by the Rajiv-Longowal accord. He said had Mr Devi Lal not started an agitation against the accord, the water problem of Haryana would have been solved by now.

KARNAL: The Lok Sabha member from Rohtak and senior Congress leader, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court directing the Union Government to construct of the part of the Satluj-Yamuna link (SYL) canal that falls in Punjab.

Talking to The Tribune over telephone from New Delhi, he said the SYL would be the "lifeline for the people of Haryana” and said that the decision would add to the prosperity of the farming community in the state.

He said the political credit for today’s decision goes to the Congress as Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had played a major role in safeguarding the interests of the state’s farming community.

JHAJJAR: Joyed by the Supreme Court order on the SYL canal, INLD workers led by Ms Kanta Devi, a former MLA, took out procession in the town while giving the credit for the decision to Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Mr Raghubir Singh, Congress MLA from Beri, gave the credit to the Supreme Court and the people of the state.