Badal seeks Hooda’s intervention in Butana canal issue

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal sought personal intervention of his Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda to immediately issue instructions to the authorities concerned to stop the alleged protection works on outer slope of left bank of Hansi branch of the Butana Branch Multipurpose Link Channel (MPLC).

Badal in a Demi Official letter to Hooda on May 18 mentioned the canal had been constructed without any technical study on the likely impact of blockade of sheet flow of flood water by the construction of the embankments of the MPLC on Punjab. Badal wrote that during the July 2010 floods,there was huge accumulation of flood water due to synchronisation of flood discharges in the Ghaggar and its tributaries and the high embankment of Hansi-Butana canal prevented free flow of these waters,leading to breach in the embankment of the canal.A spokesperson in the chief minister’s office also refuted Hooda’s claims that he had not received any letter.

He said the letter was duly acknowledged by Hooda and the reply was also sent to the Punjab chief minister on June 2.

A specific mention about Badal’s letter had also been made by the Haryana government in its written statement filed in the Supreme Court on June 13 in response to the case filed by Punjab,restraining Haryana from construction of centre toe wall and providing concrete lining on the outer slope of its embankment along with Hansi-Butana canal.