Chandigarh: The Central Government has convened a meeting of Punjab and Haryana on the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar will hold a meeting in Delhi on January 4.
The Central government has started a round of talks to deal with the water dispute between the two states. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will chair the meeting.
Punjab and Haryana’s dispute over the water issue is currently in the Supreme Court. The apex court had in September directed the two states to find a solution to the issue through dialogue. In view of this, a meeting of the two states was also held in Chandigarh on October 14.
The next hearing of the case in the Supreme Court is on January 19, for which the Central Government itself is holding a meeting of the two states. The apex court had directed the Central government to resolve the issue through dialogue between the two states.
The first attempt was made by the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana by holding a meeting in Chandigarh and the meeting remained inconclusive. Now the central government has started making efforts.
On April 8, 1982, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had started the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal in village Kapuri. The Shiromani Akali Dal had also put up a morcha on the issue of water. The water issue has gone through several stages for a long time.
Captain Amarinder Singh had cancelled the water agreements in 2004. The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance had initiated efforts to return the acquired land for the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
According to the latest details, the Punjab government has started preparations for the January 4 Delhi meeting so that Punjab’s stand can be firmly put forward in the central meeting.
The first meeting between the two states has been inconclusive
The October 14 meeting between the two states remained inconclusive. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in his meeting with his Haryana counterpart, had made it clear that not a single drop of water was surplus in Punjab even though Haryana had insisted on the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
The Punjab government had also said that the waters of Ravi and Beas should be evaluated in terms of the current availability of water.