SYL canal row: Centre to mediate between Haryana, Punjab

The Centre will again hold a meeting with Punjab and Haryana to resolve the contentious issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Saturday.

Shekhawat was replying to a question on his meeting with chief ministers Bhagwant Mann of Punjab and Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana over the issue in Chandigarh on December 28.

The minister said the Centre had tried to build some consensus in the matter on the directions of the Supreme Court.

"This time again, we will make an effort and hold a discussion together and if any way out is found then we will work on the same. Otherwise, we will work as per the directions of the Supreme Court," he said.

The Union minister was in Mohali to attend the Viksit Bharat Sankalap Yatra.

On December 14, Khattar said Shekhawat had called a meeting of both the chief ministers over the SYL on December 28.

Punjab’s case

Mann said he would attend the meeting but reiterated that the state has “not even a single drop of water to share with other states”.

Mann also said that he would firmly present Punjab's case at the meeting.

Khattar said the Haryana government wanted the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on the construction of the SYL canal.

The last meeting between Punjab and Haryana was held on October 14, 2022. Both states failed to make any headway in the ongoing deadlock over the contentious issue that has dragged on for years.

The canal was conceptualised for the effective sharing of water between the two states from the Ravi and the Beas rivers.

It envisages a 214-km canal, of which a 122-km stretch is to be built in Punjab and the remaining 92 km in Haryana.

The Supreme Court has asked the Central government to actively pursue the mediation process to resolve the festering dispute between both states.

Haryana has completed the project in its territory but Punjab shelved it after launching the work in 1982.

(With agency inputs)