Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday asserted that the people of the State have the right over Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) waters and they are going to claim it at any cost. Khattar further said that concrete and conscious efforts are being made by the Government for resolving the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal and it has started yielding positive results.
A hearing in this matter was held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, in which the Central Government informed the Court that the Punjab Government is not giving any cooperation in the matter. The Central Government informed the Court that a letter was also written to Punjab’s new Chief Minister but he did not give any response. Now, the Supreme Court has directed the Central Government to organize a meeting of the Chief Ministers of both States and try to amicably resolve the issue.
Khattar said, “SYL water is very important for Haryana. On one hand, we are not getting this water, while on the other Delhi is demanding more water from us. Now fixing a deadline to resolve this issue at the earliest has become very essential.”
The Chief Minister said that the completion of the construction work of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal is long pending and an issue of great concern between Haryana and Punjab. Due to the non-completion of the SYL Canal, surplus, unchanneled water of Ravi, Sutlej and Beas is going to Pakistan.
“On the direction of the Supreme Court to resolve the SYL issue, Union Jal Shakti Minister on August 18, 2020 had called a meeting with the Chief Ministers of both the states but unfortunately Punjab is not taking any further action as per the decision taken in the said meeting,” said Chief Minister.
Notably, the Chief Minister through a demi-official letter dated May 6, 2022 had requested the Union Minister of Jal Shakti to convene the second-round meeting of the Chief Ministers of both the states at the earliest to discuss this issue. Besides this, he had also written a demi-official letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to organize a meeting of the Chief Ministers of both the states over the same issue.
Earlier also Khattar had written three demi-official letters to the Punjab Chief Minister for this meeting, but no response was received from his side.
Haryana govt should file a case of contempt in Supreme Court of india on SYL issue: Hooda
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday reacted to the SYL case between Punjab and Haryana, saying that the Supreme Court has already given the final verdict in favour of Haryana. Therefore, the Haryana government should file contempt in case for disobeying the orders of the Supreme Court of india. Haryana will not leave even a single drop of water from its rightful share, he said.
Hooda said that there is no point in the meeting now as the Supreme Court has already given its final verdict on giving water to Haryana. “The Central Government and Punjab Government have to comply and the Haryana Government should make efforts to ensure that it happens. We have met everyone from the Chief Minister to the former President, on the issue. Despite the decision of the Supreme Court in favour of Haryana and an all-party meeting to ask the Chief Minister to seek time from the Prime Minister, the government never took concrete steps towards getting water to the state. On the SYL issue, I had clearly stated in the Legislative Assembly that the Haryana government should file a case of disobeying the Supreme Court's decision,” he said.
Vested interests of affluent political families deprived youth from jobs: Punjab CM
PNS/Chandigarh
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said that due to vested interests of influential political families, the state has lagged behind in the process of development and youth had been deprived of employment opportunities.
The Chief Minister, addressing the gathering after handing over employment letters to the newly-recruited youth in Water, Supply and Sanitation Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education Departments, said that the hands of these families are drenched with treachery and ruining the future of younger generations.
“These families connived with forces for getting personal benefits and harming the state’s interests. This is an unpardonable sin with Punjab and its youth due to which people had ousted these families from power in the state,” he added.