Punjab refusing to accept Supreme Court decision, says Haryana CM Khattar

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 4

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said that Punjab had been refusing to accept the Supreme Court’s decision on the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link (SYL) canal. He added that the state would inform the SC about Punjab’s “reluctant” attitude.

Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat today held a meeting on the SYL canal issue with the CMs of Haryana and Punjab in New Delhi.

Giving details about the meeting, Khattar said no consensus had been reached at the meeting as well. He said the SC, in its decision, had announced that the SYL should be constructed, but Punjab CM Bhagwant Maan and his administrative wing were not ready to find any solution to this issue.

“Instead of discussing this pivotal issue, the Punjab CM and his administrative wing are repeatedly saying that there is no water in the state. Rather they are asking to discuss the sharing of water, whereas a separate tribunal has been set up for discussing issues related to water sharing. The distribution of water will be done according to the recommendation of the tribunal,” said Khattar.

The CM said the Punjab Government was not even accepting the Supreme Court’s decision wherein the Act brought by the Punjab Government in 2004 had been repealed. “Punjab CM says the 2004 Act still exists, which is completely unconstitutional,” added Khattar.

The CM said the SYL canal should be built and the Haryana Government would apprise the SC of Punjab’s reluctant attitude over this issue. “We will accept the decision of the SC in this regard,” added Khattar.

The CM clarified that the SYL was the right of Haryana residents and he was hopeful that the state would get this right. He said the SYL water was very important to Haryana. Now, it is necessary to fix a timeline in this matter so that the availability of water to the farmers of the state could be ensured, added Khattar.

He said it was a well-known fact that despite two SC judgments, Punjab had not completed the construction of the SYL. Instead of implementing the decisions of the SC, Punjab tried to obstruct their implementation by enacting the Cancellation of Agreements Act in 2004. It is worth mentioning that under the provision of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, according to the order of the Government of India dated March 24, 1976, 3.5 MAF of water was allocated to Haryana out of the surplus water of Ravi-Beas.

Due to the non-completion of the SYL canal, Haryana is using only 1.62 MAF of water. Punjab is illegally using about 1.9 MAF of water from Haryana’s share by not completing the SYL canal in its region, he added.

Stand unconstitutional

The Punjab Government was not even accepting the Supreme Court's decision wherein the Act brought by the Punjab Government in 2004 had been repealed. Punjab CM says the 2004 Act still exists, which is completely unconstitutional. — Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister