INLD, BSP leaders demand SYL completion, ‘court arrest’

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, June 22

The INLD and BSP organised a ‘jail bharo’ rally to court arrest over their demand for the early completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal here on Friday.

Leader of Opposition and Dabwali MLA Abhay Singh Chautala, Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, Ashok Arora and Prakash Bharati, state presidents of the INLD and BSP, respectively, were among those who courted arrest.

Abhay Chautala urged the police team led by DSP Jitender Singh to detain all the activists gathered for the rally. The DSP expressed his inability to do so. However, he completed the formality by announcing the detention of the activists from the stage.

An administrative official, who had accompanied the DSP, announced the release of the detainees. The INLD claimed that a total of 41,637 activists of both parties had courted arrest at the rally.

Addressing the gathering, Leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala said the BJP government has failed to get the SYL canal completed despite a favourable verdict of the Supreme Court.

Accusing the BJP of making false promises to win votes in 2014, he alleged that one of the promises was to bring the SYL waters by completing the construction of the canal.

“But after coming to power, the BJP has been hatching conspiracies to stop the construction of the canal. We will launch an agitation and continue it till the farmers of Haryana get their due share of the Sutlej waters,” Abhay Chautala said.

He alleged that both the BJP and Congress have been playing politics on the issue for many years.

He also accused the BJP of betraying the farmers by going back on its promise of implementing the Swaminathan Commission report. Abhay Chautala assured the gathering that when the INLD-BSP alliance is voted to power, the government would not only waive loans of farmers but also implement the Swaminathan Commission report on the fixing of MSP.

He also assured that one member from every family would be given a government job and Rs 5 lakh would be given on the marriage of a poor family’s daughter. Old age pension would be enhanced to Rs 2,500 per month and power bill reduced by half.

Abhay Chautala also said that the government has been fleecing the common man by installing meters outside the houses. “We will uproot all the electricity meters that have been wrongly installed outside the houses and are burning a hole in the pocket of the consumers,” he announced.

The INLD MP Dushyant Chautala lashed out at the BJP government for depriving Haryana farmers of water that was already available to it. He pointed out that the 1,500 cusecs, which was flowing through the Barwala canal, has now been reduced to 1,100 cusecs because the BJP government at the Centre is more concerned about Rajasthan. The 400 cusecs were being given to Rajasthan from the share of Haryana, he alleged.

He said that because of this decision, the 40 villages of Nalwa and Adampur were experiencing drought-like conditions. He also accused the Khattar government of financial mismanagement as the state finances are in a perennial state of crisis. When the INLD government demitted office in 2005, it had left overflowing coffers, he claimed.