With Punjab and Haryana once again sticking to their stand on the vexed issue of now-defunct Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal – through which the water of Ravi and Beas rivers was to be shared between the two states – the stalemate over the issue has deepened,, writes Rajesh Moudgil
The recent meeting chaired by Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat with the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana – third meeting since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed its government in Punjab last year – on the 26-year old vexed issue of SYL, fell flat, once again.
While the riparian state Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann held that the state did not have even a single drop of spare water, his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar held that getting water through the said canal was Haryana’s right. He rued Punjab’s refusal to accept the directions of the Supreme Court of India which had come in Hayana’s favour.
However, Mann maintained that more than 78% of our 150 blocks were in extreme dark-zone due to depletion of ground water-table in Punjab over the years, therefore the state could not afford to share its water with any other state.
Elaborating upon state’s latest statistics, he further held that when the agreement on water sharing between the two states was signed decades ago, Punjab was getting 18.56 million acre feet (MAF) while Punjab now got 12.63 MAF, and Haryana was getting 14.10 MAF water from Sutlej, Yamuna and other rivulets.
Khattar, on the other hand, pointed out that Mann was avoiding to discuss the key issue – SYL canal – and was instead bringing up the issue of water sharing for which a separate tribunal had been set up upon recommendations of which, the water sharing would be done He further complained that Punjab was not accepting the SC’s decision which was in favour of Haryana.
No SYL, talk about YSL: Mann
Bringing up a new standpoint, Mann, this time, fought for changing the nomenclature and proposal of the project. He held that instead of the SYL canal, the project should now be conceived as Yamuna-Satluj-Link (YSL) canal.
Stating that Satluj river had already dried up, hence no question of sharing even a single drop of water from it, he said that rather, the water from Ganga and Yamuna should be supplied to Punjab through Satluj river.
Stating that the state had a centuries old canal system due to which even the districts at the center of the state fell on the tail end of canal water, Mann bemoaned that the Union government had not given even a penny for the rejuvenation of the canal system, due to which farmers were suffering. He said that there were 14 lakh tube wells in the state which were pumping water regularly to fulfill the irrigation needs of the state and make the country self-sufficient in food production.
