SYL canal row: Punjab, Haryana fail to reach agreement

Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who met on Friday failed to arrive at any agreement on the vexed issue of the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal - that has defied any solution for decades, with both states sticking to their respective standpoint.

The meeting was held after the Supreme Court had asked the chief ministers of the two states to discuss the issue and resolve an over 26-year-old dispute over the sharing of Ravi-Beas rivers water. It was on September 6 last, that the apex court had asked the two CMs to amicably resolve the vexed issue and fixed its next hearing in January 2023.

Interacting with the media after the meeting, Mann categorically said that there was no question of initiating this work, as the state did not have even a single drop of water to share with Haryana.

"At the time when the agreement for the canal was inked, Punjab was getting 18.6 MAF (million acre-foot) of water which has been now reduced to 12.63 MAF, presently, so we don’t have any surplus water to share with any state," Mann told reporters.

Stating that Haryana was currently getting 14.10 MAF of water from Satluj, Yamuna and other rivulets, he held that Punjab on the other hand was getting only 12.63 MAF. He held that despite being smaller in area, Haryana was getting more water than Punjab and ironically it was now demanding more water at the cost of Punjab.

Mann held that there was a need to reassess the river waters availability and suggested that if the people of Haryana want water, they (he and Khattar) could go and meet prime minister Narendra Modi and request him to arrange water for them from the Yamuna or somewhere else.

On his part, Khattar said that there was a decree of the Supreme Court that needs to be executed by Punjab and the water carrier channel should be constructed. He said the issue of the availability of water could be resolved subsequently.

The Centre had on September 6 informed the Supreme Court that the Punjab government was not cooperating in resolving the dispute. However, the counsel for Punjab had told SC that the state government was keen to resolve the issue amicably.

It may be recalled that there has been a dispute between the two states over the issue since 1996. It was in 2002 that the Supreme Court had in a decree ruled in favour of Haryana and directed Punjab to construct the SYL canal within a year. This decree came on a suit filed by Haryana in the year 1996.