The Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana on Friday exchanged heated words over the vexed Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal at the northern zonal council (NZC) meeting, but agreed to resolve other contentious issues of sharing of power and water with other states through talks and mutual cooperation.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar and his Punjab counterpart Capt Amarinder Singh openly confronted each other on the SYl canal issue, during NZC meeting held under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here.
While Haryana Government asked Punjab to give Haryana’s full share of the Ravi-Beas water, the Punjab Government demanded water share in Yamuna.
As both sides engaged in an argument over the SYl canal issue, the Home Minister Rajnath Singh suggested the State Governments to resolve the issue amicably through dialogue otherwise, the legal recourse is the only final option.
Rajnath Singh suggested that the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of the two states should sit and discuss the water sharing issue threadbare to reach a consensus.
Warning the Punjab Government on SYl issue, Chief Minister Manohar lal earlier said, “Since our faith in the Constitution of India is full and unflinching, we would never hesitate in taking legal recourse in our determination to safeguard our interests and to protect the rights of the residents of the state”.
Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh, however, urged for a feasible solution for sharing of river waters based on internationally accepted riparian principles.
While briefing the mediapersons about the meeting, Secretary of the Inter-state Council Secretariat, Sanjeevani Kutty, said the Ministry of Water Resources and Power would convene a joint meeting of both State Governments to resolve the SYl canal issue. A consensus was reached to hold a joint meeting on the SYl issue, she said.
Earlier, the Centre had held separate meetings with senior bureaucrats of Punjab and Haryana on April 20 in New Delhi in an effort to resolve the long-pending SYl canal issue between the two governments.
She added, “The states were urged to try to settle the contentious matters of sharing water and hydropower amicably through the mediation of the concerned Union Ministries of Water Resources and Power.”
Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh said that the agreements pertaining to water sharing were done decades back and a lot has changed since then. The Punjab Government would present latest data related to water requirement, water shortage among other things during the next meeting to be convened by the Centre, he said.
He added that Punjab and Haryana have agreed to find a solution through talks on the water-sharing issue.
On the other hand, Haryana Government took a strong exception to the statement released by Punjab Government on the SYl issue after the NZC meeting.
Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, OP Dhankar, who was present at the meeting said, “The statement issued by Punjab Chief Minister’s office on NZC meeting is misleading and incorrect.”
Dhankar said, “During the meeting, the Chief Minister had made it clear both in his speech and in his oral remarks that there is no question of any dialogue on the SYl canal issue since the Supreme Court’s judgment has attained finality and Haryana’s execution petition is listed for hearing in July 2017.”
The Minister claimed that what all states had agreed to was the suggestion of the Union Home Minister, to hold meetings at the level of officers and political executives on all other contentious issues of sharing of power and water.
Notably, Punjab and Haryana have been at loggerheads over the SYl canal issue since decades. The Supreme Court in a verdict last November had held as unconstitutional, the 2004 law passed by Punjab to terminate the SYl canal water sharing agreement with neighbouring states.
However, Punjab Government had flatly refused to construct the canal saying that the state has no water to share with Haryana.