Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia on Sunday appreciated the commitment of state revenue officials in implementing the decision taken by the state cabinet and closing the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal chapter forever.
Majithia said that the Punjabis owed a debt of gratitude to the revenue officials of four districts of Mohali, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar for working with breakneck speed to turn the Cabinet decision into reality.
“As of today, all land acquired for construction of the SYl canal, which had been de-notified by the State cabinet, has been transferred back to the original farmers free of cost through mutations,” he said.
Majithia said that 4,261 acres of land in 202 villages in four districts had been transferred back to 21,511 farmers.
“In Ropar, 1468 acres of land had been transferred back to 5180 owners across 91 villages. In Fatehgarh Sahib, 552 acres of land had been transferred back to 2031 owners of 35 villages. Similarly, in Mohali, 791 acres of land had been transferred back to 1323 owners of 16 villages. In Patiala district, 1450 acres of land had been transferred back to 5774 owners spread over 60 villages,” he said.
The Akali leader said that the manner in which the SAD-BJP government had moved to protect the interests of farmers proved that where there was a will there was a way. “Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has promised Punjabis that the SYl canal will never be constructed. By successfully transferring land back to the farmers, we have proved that we do not make empty proclamations like the Congress whose Punjab leaders have been giving lip sympathy to farmers even as the party high command has always sided with Haryana on the SYl issue,” he said.
Majithia said that Capt Amarinder's admittance, at a function celebrating former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary a day before, that he was present at the site in Kapoori when the PM formally inaugurated digging of the SYl canal, was proof of his guilt and complicity in the conspiracy to give Punjab's waters to Haryana.
“Now Amarinder should come clean and also apologise to Punjabi farmers for welcoming Indira Gandhi through newspaper advertisements and a silver spade on the occasion. This is the only way he can wash away his sins for standing beside Indira Gandhi when she used a silver spade to rob the people of Punjab of the bounties of her river waters,” he said.