Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanded completion of the construction of the SYL canal in the Punjab region but Mann objected it.
Published Sep 27, 2023 | 12:10 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 27, 2023 | 12:10 PM
An image from the Northern Zonal Council meeting. (Supplied)
Reiterating the government’s commitment to safeguard the interests of the state, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann raised various concerns during the 31st Northern Zonal Council (NZC) meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Amritsar on Tuesday, 26 September.
A group of farmers under the banner of Kirti Kisan Union who had planned to lodge their protest against the Union home minister’s arrival were detained by the police near the airport. They carried black flags and wore black turbans as a mark of protest.
Farmers’ leader Dhanwant Singh said that his colleagues were taken to the Raja Sansi police post. “We were protesting against the Centre’s anti-farmers policies,” he said.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanded the completion of the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) canal in the Punjab region.
However, his Punjab counterpart Mann said the Sutlej river had already dried up and there was no question of sharing even a single drop of water.
Mann clarified that Punjab had no spare water to share with any other state, so instead of the SYL canal, the project should be now conceived as Yamuna Sutlej Link (YSL) and water from Ganga and Yamuna should be supplied to Punjab through the Sutlej river.
Khattar, however, said that water availability and canal construction were distinct issues and should not be confused with each other.
He said surplus water from rivers such as Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas is currently flowing into Pakistan, and constructing SYL would enable the productive utilisation of this valuable water resource.
Khattar highlighted the importance of SYL as an alternative channel, especially in light of the aging Nangal Hydel Channel (NHC).
Mann, however, said the SYL canal was a highly “emotive issue” for Punjab and construction of this canal would lead to serious law and order issues and it would become a national problem, with Haryana and Rajasthan also suffering the impact.
He said Punjab didn’t have surplus water to share with Haryana and assessment of the availability of water was required as per international norms.
The chief minister added that setting up a new Tribunal, as per new “terms of reference” and “changed circumstances” including Yamuna waters, was the only solution of the water dispute.
Mann said Punjab’s 76.5 percent blocks (117 out of 153) are over-exploited where the stage of groundwater extraction was more than 100 percent, whereas in Haryana only 61.5 percent (88 out of 143) were over-exploited.
Mann said, “River Yamuna like rivers Ravi and Beas also flowed through the erstwhile state of Punjab before reorganisation but while apportioning the river waters, between Punjab and Haryana, Yamuna waters were not considered, whereas, Ravi and Beas waters were duly taken into account for the apportionment.”
He said the state had been requesting its association in negotiations for the allocation of Yamuna waters, but its request had not been considered on the ground that no geographical area of Punjab fell in the Yamuna basin.
Mann said Haryana was not the basin state of Ravi and Beas, but Punjab was forced to share waters of these rivers with Haryana adding that if Haryana got Ravi-Beas waters being a successor state of Punjab, on the same analogy, Yamuna waters should also be shared with Punjab, for being a successor state.
Mann also registered his objections to the levy of water cess by the state of Himachal Pradesh on hydro-power projects and Rajasthan‘s demand to be included in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) board.
Taking up yet another bone of contention with Haryana, Mann demanded handing over Chandigarh to Punjab.
“Chandigarh was formed as a new capital of Punjab over the land acquired in the state of Punjab. But it continues to be UT and restoration of its status as capital of the state of Punjab is still pending, which has bruised the psyche of every Punjabi. This long pending demand remains unaddressed,” said Mann.
Other demands put forth by Mann included relaxation in the norms for financial assistance to the flood-affected people, setting up of a regional centre of National Security Guards (NSG) in Pathankot at the earliest, setting up of a ‘Centre of Excellence for Drones’ in Punjab to counter cross border drone terrorism and smuggling, revision of clause of the paid military for Punjab as being a border state and release of stalled Rural Development Fund (RDF).