Sutlej has dried up, no water with state to share: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann at NZC meet

Amritsar, September 26

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday reiterated that the state had no water to share with any other state while putting his point on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal row during the 31 st Northern Zonal Council (NZC) meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Amritsar today.

“The SYL project should now be conceived as the Yamuna Sutlej Link (YSL) instead of the SYL. The Sutlej has already dried up and the need of the hour is to draw water from the Ganga and the Yamuna to Punjab through the Sutlej channel. Yamuna waters is the only solution of the water dispute.

He said the state’s request for the allocation of Yamuna waters was turned down on the ground that no geographical area of Punjab falls on the Yamuna basin.

On the demand of Rajasthan to maintain the level of Pong and Bhakra Dams, he said, “No flood waters of the Sutlej or the Beas flow to Haryana or Rajasthan or to any other state due to which Punjab had to face the damage by floods everytime. Under the circumstances when Punjab did not get any support during the crisis from Rajasthan, it was unjustifiable that the full reservoir level of the dams should be increased.

Opposing the proposal of having a third member in the BBMB from Rajasthan or Himachal, he said the BBMB was a body constituted under the provisions of the Punjab Reorganization Act 1966, which primarily deals with the successor states of Punjab and Haryana.

Also, opposing the levy of water cess by Himachal on hydropower projects, the CM said HP cannot impose cess merely because Bhakra and Beas project powerhouses are located within the state.

Presenting a strong case for handing over Chandigarh to Punjab, he said Chandigarh was formed as a new capital of Punjab over the land acquired from Punjab. The matter of restoration of its status as the capital of Punjab is still pending.

On the issue of Haryana’s insistence of getting its colleges affiliated to PU, he said it was only Punjab which had supported this university for the last 50 years.

No PU affiliation to Haryana colleges

Haryana and HP withdrew their colleges from Panjab University in 1973 and 1975, and set up their own universities and stopped funding it. It was unjustified demand of Haryana to affiliate its colleges with Panjab University. — Bhagwant Mann, CM