Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party has once again cornered over the issue of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal following Supreme Court has reprimanded Punjab on the issue.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who is in Haryana for his two-day visit on Wednesday, when was questioned on SYL issue said, “What is the stand of Congress and BJP in Punjab and Haryana. They should first clear it before people. These people do dirty politics.”
He said that there is a shortage of water in both states. The water level in Punjab and Haryana is very low. Both states need water. It is the responsibility of the Centre to arrange water for both states. However, Centre is trying to divide both states over water, which is despicable. If Punjab and Haryana fight, India will not move forward.
Both can get water, will tell pm the solution
It is possible that Haryana and Punjab may get water. The Centre should take responsibility for it. He demanded that PM Narendra Modi make arrangements for this.
“If PM Modi doesn’t have a solution, call me, I’ll tell him. We don’t do politics of different stands in both states,” he said.
Earlier, CM Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab is ready for the meeting with Haryana to find a amicable solution to the issue. He said that this is the duty of the Centre to solve this problem.
Supreme Court slams Punjab
The Supreme Court has rapped Punjab on the issue of SYL and sought a report in 1 month, ordering the Jal Shakti Ministry to mediate between the CMs of the two states. The next hearing in the case is on January 15, but Punjab Rural and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal has categorically said that Punjab does not have a drop of water to give to any other state.
The years-old SYL controversy
After Haryana became a separate state from Punjab, a SYL canal was planned to give water to Haryana from the Sutlej and its tributary Beas river. Due to the absence of a canal, the surplus, unchanneled water of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas goes to Pakistan. Haryana has also been allocated 3.50 million acre feet in the surplus water of Ravi-Beas as per the order of the Government of India dated March 24, 1976.
At that time, the Congress was in power in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. There was a government led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the Center, who decided to distribute water by building this canal.
The controversy escalated in 1982 when the construction of the SYL canal at Kapuri in Patiala was inaugurated. The Rajiv Longowal Agreement was signed in 1985. Tribunals were formed in that too, but the matter was not resolved. When the construction of the canal started, its engineers were murdered and work was stopped. The matter then reached the Supreme Court.
As per the decision taken in the Union Jal Shakti Minister’s meeting on August 18, 2020 with the chief ministers of the two states on the directions of the Supreme Court, Punjab is not taking further action. Haryana has requested the Union Jal Shakti Minister on May 6, 2022, to convene the second round of meeting of the Chief Ministers of the two states at the earliest.
Earlier, it also wrote three letters to the Punjab Chief Minister for this meeting, but there was no response from the state. Therefore, the issue has not been resolved till date.