Days after the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution reiterating the state’s claim over Chandigarh, Haryana legislators called a special session of its assembly on April 5 to counter-claim. The two northern states have long disputed the ownership of their joint capital, along with residual issues of the 1966 Punjab Reorganization Act, which carved out modern Punjab and Haryana. The latest round of hostilities began when Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on a visit to Chandigarh on March 27, announced that the Central Civil Services Rules would be applicable to Union Territory (UT) employees from April instead of the Punjab Civil Services Rules. 1.
This has angered most political parties in Punjab who see it as “another big blow to the rights of Punjab”. The Sukhbir Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal, which was looking to re-emerge after the assembly election debacle, was the first to react, asking Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to take the issue forward and pass a resolution in a specially convened session. inspired to. Mann also threatened a “street to Parliament” protest against the implementation of the Central Civil Services Rules in Chandigarh.
Chandigarh is a sensitive issue for the Sikh-majority state, which lost its original capital Lahore during Partition and has had no capital of its own since then. Chandigarh, the overriding sentiment goes, was created to make up for this loss.
However, the capital is not the only sad thing for Punjab. In addition to making Chandigarh the temporary capital of both Punjab and Haryana for 10 years, several Punjabi-speaking regions were also awarded to Haryana, including an insult to injury. In addition, the Punjab Reorganization Act gave control of irrigation water to central agencies. In his speech in the assembly, Mann made a passionate appeal to immediately shift Chandigarh to Punjab along with Punjabi-speaking areas in Haryana, though he remained silent on other controversial issues.
Back in January 1970, the central government reportedly allowed Chandigarh to move to Punjab. Haryana was given five years to build up its capital as well as a generous grant of Rs 10 crore for the purpose. It was associated with the transfer of Punjabi-speaking areas in Haryana to Punjab and the reciprocal transfer of the Hindi-speaking and Hindu-dominated Abohar and Fazilka regions of Punjab to Haryana. However, the provisions were unacceptable to both the parties and the dispute ended. Chandigarh was made the temporary joint capital of Punjab and Haryana under the same Punjab Reorganization Act, with both states contributing government employees in the ratio of 60:40 respectively. But since talks were going nowhere, Chandigarh was given UT status in 1976.
Over the years, with the UTs making their own recruitments, the Punjabi workforce declined but the Punjab Civil Services rules continued to apply. While IPS and IAS officers were in equal proportion from these cadres, the most senior bureaucrats came from AGMUT (Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram and UT) cadre.
In 1984, in the shadow of the Sikh rebellion, the governor of Punjab was made the administrator of Chandigarh. About a year later, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed an agreement with Akali Dal chief HS Longowal. Less than a month after the July 1985 agreement, the Akali chief was killed by Sikh militants in protest. Political parties in Haryana were also opposed to the agreement as they blamed the then Congress state government for entering into an ambiguous agreement, particularly regarding the areas to be transferred to Haryana in lieu of Chandigarh.
Later, the Center set up commissions for devolution of territories, including a commission in 1986 under then Supreme Court Justice ES Venkataramaiah. In order to define Hindi and Punjabi speaking villages, the judge recommended an exchange of about 70,000 acres of land. But neither Punjab nor Haryana agreed, and the transfers never took place.
The Punjab Boundary Commission headed by Justice JC Shah as well as other reports upheld Punjab’s right over Chandigarh, but state politicians were unwilling to give up claims on Hindi-speaking areas and give them to Haryana. Over the years, water-sharing issues have made the situation even more dire. In July 1986, when the Khalistan insurgency set Punjab to be condemned for two fallow decades, the central government suspended the transfer of land indefinitely.
Look at present, and you see that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is also getting into troubled waters with his aggressive stand on Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal construction and river water sharing. While Haryana has completed its work on the canal (85 per cent of the total), Punjab has not progressed even an inch in the last so many years. Despite the existence of a mediation mechanism, it is still disregarded. The Nai Mann government has also not shown any interest in this matter so far. Water has been a particularly frightening and emotional issue for Punjab (actually during the two decades of the Khalistan insurgency). Despite directions from the Centre, various tribunals and even the Supreme Court, Punjab has refused to share water with Haryana.
Mann, who is just starting his term, has little leeway as sentiments are already at peak in the state. There is still residual anger against agricultural laws put forward by the BJP-controlled Center’s February 23 notification to amend the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) Rules, 1974 and change the criteria for selection of full-time members. Board members can now be from all over India instead of just Punjab and Haryana. BBMB was created as an autonomous board under the provisions of the Punjab Reorganization Act to regulate the supply of water and electricity to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh. The general belief is that the new rules will remove Punjab’s control over important dam headworks.
wooAter is an important issue for both Khattar and Mann. Both the states are firm on their stand that they are left with no option in the matter due to the depleting groundwater level. In Punjab, data from the Ministry of Water Resources shows that 109 out of 128 blocks are in the ‘dark zone’ (severely low groundwater level). Haryana needs SYL water to irrigate the fields in its southern parts. Officials here say that the groundwater level in places like Gurugram district has fallen from a depth of 6.6 meters in 1976 to more than 30 meters now. Haryana will not let Chandigarh go until Punjab goes soft on the water issue. Meanwhile, the latter maintains that the water allocation system as decided by the Balkrishna Eradi Tribunal in 1987—5 MAF (million acre feet) of water to Punjab and 3.83 MAF to Haryana—was faulty as it did not consider Haryana’s share of Yamuna waters. it was done. Anyway, none of the states had accepted these provisions and the dispute remains unresolved.
In 1960, after India signed the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, Punjab got access to the waters of the tributaries. The 1966 reorganization recommended sharing of water with dry Haryana. Punjab has three rivers—the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Beas—while Haryana gets its water from the Yamuna. The SYL canal was planned as a 214-km-long conduit that would connect the Sutlej and Yamuna. But when construction started in 1982, political parties in Punjab cried and opposed every move to complete the construction. In fact, in July 2004, Amarinder Singh, the then Chief Minister of Punjab, called a special assembly session and passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, nullifying all river water agreements with neighboring states. In February 2017, the Supreme Court said that Punjab would have to comply with its order on the SYL canal and pass a decree if the two states did not reach an agreement. Yet the SYL canal remains stuck, except for the occasional burst of political activity, such as was raised with the Chandigarh issue last week.
After the Aam Aadmi Party’s tsunami in the assembly elections and with the general elections due in 2024, the eyes of political parties in Punjab are on a strong footing. They need to be cautious, as an emotional issue like Chandigarh can create discontent in the state and have unforeseen consequences. And that, for Punjab, would be a capital shame.