Chandigarh, July 11
The Punjab government today approached the Supreme Court against the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal by Haryana.
Punjab and Rajasthan have been registering their protests with the Haryana and union governments, besides the BBMB. They have been protesting on the grounds that the new canal was being dug not only in contravention of the Bhakra agreement, but would also deprive large areas of Punjab and Rajasthan from its due share of water.
The state government had, in fact, asked the advocate-general to take all legal measures to stall the construction of the 109-km Hansi-Butana multi-purpose link channel to release water from the Bhakra Main Line (BML) to the Western Yamuna canal in Haryana. The government has engaged the services of well-known legal experts to pursue the case.
Sources in the Punjab Advocate-General’s office said a special leave petition (SLP), challenging the move, was filed in the apex court by the state today. Advocate-general Hardev Singh Mattewal added the petition was expected to be taken up shortly.
Earlier, a senior Punjab minister had blamed union minister for water resources S. Soz for adopting double standard for justifying the construction of the canal, while opposing construction of the Dasmesh canal in Punjab.
