SYL row: Hry seeks para forces in view of INLD protest threat

The Haryana government has sought around 1,000 paramilitary personnel from the Centre to deal with any law and order problem in view of the INLD's protest on Monday over the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.
Home secretaries, DGPs and a few other senior officers of Haryana and Punjab held a meeting here today to prepare a strategy to avoid any untoward situation.
Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said both the states have decided to prepare a plan to maintain law and order on July 10.
Punjab DGP Suresh Arora said their priority is to maintain peace and order. "We will have another meeting," he said.

"We have sought 10 companies of paramilitary forces," Haryana DGP B S Sandhu told PTI over the phone.
Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Abhay Singh Chautala had earlier said INLD workers "will not allow vehicles from Punjab to enter Haryana" if the Union government failed to implement the Supreme Court order on the SYL canal issue by July 9.

Chautala, who is addressing meetings of party workers across the state to garner support for the July 10 protest, said "the SYL canal is the lifeline of the people of Haryana".
"We will take this battle from streets to Parliament. We will continue our struggle until Haryana is given its rightful share of water," he said at a meeting in Gurugram yesterday.

He alleged that the BJP government in Haryana was adopting double standards on the issue.
"On the one hand, it makes big announcements for farmers and on the other, it does not even talk about the SYL canal ... The Supreme Court has given an order in favour of Haryana," he said.
In February, several INLD leaders, including Chautala, were stopped from marching into Punjab to undertake the digging of the SYL canal.
Hundreds of INLD supporters from Haryana had in March flooded the Parliament Street in the heart of the national capital to protest over the SYL canal issue, prompting police to resort to batoncharge.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on Tuesday expressed hope that the contentious issue would be resolved through dialogue.