Rajnath calls for 'marathon meets' to resolve SYL issue

The raging river-water dispute between Punjab and Haryana dominated the 28th Northern Zonal Council (NZC) meeting, with both states agreeing to resolve the issue through a mutual dialogue after Home Minister Rajnath Singh called for "marathon meetings to reach a collective solution".

The meeting, held under the chairmanship of the Home Minister in Chandigarh, was attended by the chief ministers of Haryana and Punjab, and representatives from the Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan administrations to deliberate on several inter-state and Centre-state disputes.

While the Punjab government maintained that the state was struggling with an ecological crisis due to the depletion of ground water, the Haryana government highlighted that the state was water-stressed as against the demand of 36.0 MAF of water, the availability of water was only 14.7 MAF.

With the two states firmly arguing over their right on the river water, Singh suggested that the chief ministers and chief secretaries of both states discuss the issue threadbare in order to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.

"Efforts should first be made to find a solution through marathon meetings, failing which the matter should be left to the courts to decide," said Singh.

Highlighting that an estimated 10 lakh acres of southern Punjab was likely to go dry if theSYL canal was constructed, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said, "The region which has seen the emergence of Naxalism, could become the hotbed of terrorism, triggering a national problem. Though Haryana had less land, it had been given more water at the time of Punjab's reorganisation," said Singh, asserting that Punjab did not get any share of Yamuna's waters.

Pushing for a mutual consensus on the issue, Amarinder Singh also demanded that a re-assessment should be done to understand the availability of surface water in the Ravi, Beas and Satluj rivers.

Agreeing to hold talks, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that though the government was willing to work towards an amicable settlement of every issue, but "we must always honour agreements arrived at in the past."

Indicating that the Supreme Court had already delivered a verdict in favour of Haryana, Khattar said, "Since our faith in the Constitution is unflinching, we will not hesitate to take legal recourse in our determination to safeguard our interests and protect the rights of the residents of the state."

"We have to give, out of our own share in the Yamuna waters, extra water to Delhi in compliance with the SC's orders, even as Punjab is not delivering Haryana's full share of the Ravi-Beas water," said Khattar.

He highlighted that Haryana government was not in agreement with the Punjab Government on their proposal of exclusive investment on the Bhakra Main Line Canal and of exclusive utilization of the electricity generated there-from by Punjab.

The 214 km Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal whose construction remains suspended since 1990 defines the river water sharing between the two neighboring states. The issue remains sub-judice and Supreme Court has passed order in favor of Haryana stating that construction of SYL canal should be executed.

Hours after the meeting concluded, Haryana Cabinet Minister OP Dhankar said though CM Khattar had agreed to the Home Minister's suggestions to hold meetings on the contentious issue between the two states, he also made it clear in the meeting that "there was no question of any dialogue on the SYL issue" and that the Supreme Court's verdict has attained finality on the issue. The next hearing in the case is in July.