Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has called a meeting of chief ministers of Haryana and Punjab on December 28 to discuss the issue of Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal. The meeting of the trio, the second this year, comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court, during an earlier hearing on the issue, asking the Centre to mediate between the two states before the next hearing in January. "SYL is a serious issue. I will be attending the meeting," Khattar told reporters in Chandigarh. Replying to a question, Khattar said that the Haryana government wants the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on the construction of SYL canal. Emphasizing the distinction between water availability and requirement versus canal construction, he highlighted that a tribunal has to decide on the water share issue. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann too said he will attend the meeting, but reiterated that the state has no spare water to share with any other state. "We had met earlier also. I will go to the meeting. We will meet and sit.we met earlier also. We will see if the Centre has any new offer of finding a solution," Mann told reporters in Hoshiarpur. Mann said he will firmly present Punjab's case before the Union government in the meeting. Neither he had asked for the survey of the SYL nor he was a party to the ground breaking ceremony of canal with a "silver spade", so he will vehemently plead for interests of the state, Mann said while taking a jibe at at the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal. The SYL canal, conceptualised for effective sharing of water between the two states from the Ravi and Beas rivers, has remained a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for the past several years. The project envisages a 214-kilometre canal, of which a 122-kilometre stretch is to be constructed in Punjab and the remaining 92 kilometres in Haryana. Haryana has completed the project in its territory but Punjab, which launched the work in 1982, shelved it. The Supreme Court court had on October 4 asked the Centre to survey the portion of land in Punjab which it was allocated for the construction of part of the SYL canal and make an estimate of the extent of construction carried out there. The Punjab government had stated that the SYL land was denotified and returned to original owners. Sources said the survey has not been undertaken yet as no team has arrived. “The Centre has not conveyed us about anybody’s arrival yet. The survey has not been scheduled yet,” said a Punjab government official. It was on January 4 that Shekhwat, Khattar and Mann had met over the issue in Delhi. The meeting remained inconclusive. Prior to that, Mann and Khattar had met in Chandigarh, where Punjab CM had reiterated that state did not have a single drop to share. Earlier, on July 28, 2020 the Supreme Court had asked the CMs of the two states to sort out the issue amicably. The December 28 meetimh, to be hosted by Mann in Chandigarh, would be watched keenly even as the diametrically opposite stand of both neighbouring states are well known. Punjab has made it clear that being a riparian state, it would not share any water with Haryana. On the other hand, Haryana has been stating that it would not leave its claim and has been demanding completion of construction of SYL. Interestingly, in Punjab, all political parties including the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Opposition Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are on the same page on the issue that the state would not share water with Haryana. The Punjab Assembly, on at least seven occasions in the past, has passed unanimous resolutions staking complete claim on state's river waters. During the last meeting, Mann had proposed an alternative solution for the contentious problem-to construct a YSL (Yamuna Satluj Link) to supply water to Satluj from Yamuna so Punjab’s river, that was just a trickle now, could be revived. Besides, he had demanded a fresh tribunal to assess the availability of water afresh stating that Haryana, despite being a 40 per cent shareholder against Punjab having 60 per cent share, was getting more water. Punjab had been claiming that it was given 17.17 MAF of water from 1921 to 1960 flow series. It was reduced to 13.25 MAF in the 1981 to 2021 flow series. The Tribunal that assessed water is 33 years old. The international laws say that the availability of water should be reviewed every 25 years. Out of 12.24 MAF in Satluj, 8.02 MAF comes in Punjab’s share and 4.33 MAF is going to Haryana. Punjab is not getting a drop from Yamuna while Haryana is getting 4.65 MAF from Yamuna, similarly Punjab is not getting a drop from Sharda while Haryana is getting 1.62 MAF. Punjab is getting 12.24 MAF while Haryana is getting 12.12 MAF. Mann had told the meeting last time, “Out of 159 blocks, 117 of these (78 per cent) are in dark zone. Our aquifers have dried up. Our canal system dates back to pre Independence era. Even Moga farmers (Moga is considered centre point of the state) say that they are at the tail end. If Moga is at the tail end that means water is not reaching there. The Centre has not given us a single Rupee for canals. They keep asking us for water. How can we give water when our canals, drains are miners are all dried. We should be given funds so that we can run water in these. ”
