Sutlej-Yamuna Link: Manohar Lal Khattar, Bhagwant Mann to discuss issue on October 14

Chandigarh, October 11

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will hold a meeting with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal on October 14. The Punjab Government has confirmed that CM Bhagwant Mann will attend the meeting in keeping with the directions of the SC.

Will claim our right at any cost

We will try our best to amicably resolve the matter with the Punjab CM. We have time and again raised the SYL issue before the Centre also. We have a right over the SYL water and we are going to claim it at any cost. Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister

Khattar said the SYL water was very important for Haryana. “Fixing a deadline to resolve this issue at the earliest has become very essential now,” he said while inaugurating the newly renovated media centre at the Haryana Civil Secretariat here today.

At a meeting coordinated by the Jal Shakti Ministry, Khattar and the then Punjab CM, Capt Amarinder Singh, had already held one round of discussions on the issue around two years ago while the officers of the two states have met twice. This will be the first meeting between Khattar and Mann.

Stating that CM Khattar has been making concrete efforts to resolve the SYL issue, a spokesperson said Khattar, through a demi-official letter dated May 6, had requested the Union Minister of Jal Shakti to convene the second-round meeting of the CMs of both states at the earliest to discuss the issue.

He had also written a demi-official letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to organise a meeting of the CMs of both states over the issue. Earlier also, the CM had written three demi-official letters to the Punjab CM for the meeting.

Haryana has now sent an invite to Punjab in view of the Supreme Court intervention last month saying a meeting should be convened.

Meanwhile, the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab has said it had no extra drop to share with the neighbouring state. “Our stand is clear on the SYL issue. Punjab does not have extra water or a drop to share with anyone. Our CM will attend the meeting with the Haryana CM as per directions of the Supreme Court, but there is no question of any change in Punjab’s stand,” said Malwinder Singh Kang, spokesperson of the AAP in Punjab.