Clear stand on SYL, Sukhbir Badal asks Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Chandigarh, October 11

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today warned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann against reducing Punjab’s river waters and making it a negotiable issue between Punjab and Haryana.

In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that the Chief Minister had not made the government’s stand clear before holding a meeting with his Haryana counterpart on this issue.

He said Punjab had an exclusive right over its river waters and Haryana, being a non-riparian state, had no locus standi in the matter. “There is nothing to discuss here with Haryana”.

Sukhbir said the SYL issue had been closed in 2016 when the then Parkash Singh Badal government denotified the land which had been taken for setting up the SYL and handed it back to its original owners free of cost.