Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar on Friday led an all-party delegation to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi, to urge him for early completion of Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal.
The Union Home Minister has given the assurance that further action on the construction of SYl canal will be taken after seeking legal counsel from the Advocate General of India, said the Chief Minister, while interacting with mediapersons after the meeting.
The delegation presented the case of the state regarding implementation of orders of the Supreme Court on construction of the SYl Canal. The delegation also submitted a charter for getting the SYl Canal constructed by the Central Government at the earliest.
The Chief Minister said the Supreme Court had delivered its judgment in favour of Haryana and the responsibility for getting the SYl Canal constructed rested with the Central Government.
Replying to a question, Manohar lal said the water supplied through the SYl Canal was the rightful share of the state of Haryana. It is a joint agreement. It is not an issue between governments. Presently, the issue concerns implementation of the joint agreement, said he.
"The case of Haryana has been presented before the Central Government by the all-party delegation in a proper manner, and I hope the canal would be constructed at the earliest and the farmers would get their rightful share of water", the Chief Minister said.
The delegation included former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, ClP leader Kiran Choudhry, Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, leader of opposition and INlD leader Abhay Singh Chautala, Cabinet Ministers Capt. Abhimanyu, OP Dhankar, Ram Bilas Sharma among others.
Although Khattar was to first meet the opposition leaders at the Haryana Bhawan to discuss strategy, the meeting was cancelled.
INlD leader Abhay Chautala— who had previously announced that the party would not be part of the delegation but would separately meet the Home Minister —also submitted a memorandum to Rajnath Singh separately, demanding an early completion of SYl canal.
Punjab and Haryana have been at loggerheads over the SYl canal issue.
The Supreme Court in a verdict last November had held as unconstitutional, the 2004 law passed by Punjab to terminate the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal water sharing agreement with neighbouring states.