With the Centre taking a stand against Punjab in the Supreme Court on the river water issue by contending that the law enacted by the State in 2004 cancelling its agreements with Haryana and other neighbouring States was against the SC orders for the completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna link (SYl) canal, a fresh war of words has broken out between the two States over the contentious issue.
After the statement of his Punjab counterpart on SYl canal, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Wednesday said, “We are hopeful that the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) on the SYl issue would be in favour of Haryana.”
Speaking on the issue of water-sharing between two states, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has said that Punjab does not have a single drop of water to spare from its rivers and his party will fully ensure that there is no compromise on the inalienable rights of the state under the Riparian Principle.
Reacting to the statement, Manohar lal while interacting with mediapersons here, said that the Supreme Court had accepted the petition filed by the State Government for early hearing on the issue of the SYl Canal, on which Presidential Reference was pending and we are hopeful that the SC’s decision would be in our favour.
A day before, Punjab Congress president and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had alleged that the BJP-led Government at Centre had committed worst betrayal with Punjab by opposing its stand on water sharing and supporting Haryana. He had also questioned CM Badal’s silence on the matter that has eventually led to a situation where Punjab’s interests have been badly compromised.
Reacting to the statements of top leaders of Punjab on SYl issue, Haryana Cabinet Ministers Anil Vij and OP Dhankar while talking to the media said that Haryana would get its due share of water in the Sutlej-Yamuna-link canal.
The dispute between Haryana and Punjab over sharing of surplus water from the Ravi and the Beas dates back nearly five decades.
The agreement dividing 15.85 million acre feet of surplus Ravi-Beas waters between Punjab, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir was signed in 1955 and after reorganisation of Punjab and creation of Haryana, the latter was allocated 3.5 MAF by the Centre in 1976. For carrying these waters, the work on Satluj-Yamuna link Canal was started in 1980 but when it was nearly 95 per cent complete Punjab stopped the work.
Subsequently, Haryana moved the Supreme Court in 1996 which ordered Punjab in 2004 to complete the remaining portion of the canal. However, the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004 annulling all inter-State agreements signed by the State relating to sharing of Ravi and Beas waters.
Thereafter, the Centre had through a Presidential reference under Section 143 of the Constitution sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on the validity of the Termination of Agreements Act.