NEW DELHI: The decades-old contentious Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue between Punjab and
Haryana continues to remain unresolved as the chief ministers of both states have not been able to reach a consensus. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said that Haryana wants to construct a canal, but there is no need for it as they don’t have any water to give to them.
Now Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar will meet Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and brief him about the meeting. The Supreme Court had recently nudged them to meet and try to find an amicable solution.
“When the agreement for the canal was inked, Punjab was getting 18.56 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water which has now been reduced to 12.63 MAF. So we don’t have any surplus water to share with any state,” Mann said. After the meeting, Khattar said that as directed by the Supreme Court, the meeting was held with the Punjab chief minister but both states reached no consensus on the construction of the SYL canal.
According to Mann, Haryana is currently getting 14.10 MAF water from Satluj, Yamuna and other rivulets, whereas Punjab is getting only 12.63 MAF. He said that despite being smaller in area, Haryana is getting more water than Punjab, and is still demanding more. Mann added that 1,400km of rivers, canals and rivulets have dried up in the state due to which there is more pressure on ground water. According to him, instead of seeking water from Punjab, Haryana should give water to the state from the Yamuna.
He is also ready to go with Khattar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pleading the case of water-sharing from Ganga and Yamuna, Mann said. Saying that the Supreme Court has asked for the construction of SYL canal, Khattar called it the lifeline for Haryana. He recalled that a tribunal was earlier formed to resolve the issue, after which a new tribunal comprising three judges was again formed, which said that the construction of SYL is necessary
Disagreement over SYL