SYL row | 'No water to spare': CM Mann reiterates Punjab's old stand

Chandigarh, Dec 28 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday, during a key meeting to discuss the contentious Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, reiterated his state's old stand that there is "no surplus water" to share.

"As a chief minister, I am saying we do not have any water (to share). We apprised Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat about it in the meeting..We are firm on our earlier stand that we do not have water, " Mann told reporters after an over hour long meeting on the issue.

Replying to a question, Mann said that Punjab will keep its side before the Supreme Court. “We will file affidavits before the apex court.” A meeting to discuss the SYL canal issue was held by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat with chief ministers of Haryana and Punjab here on Thursday.

The meeting took place at a five-star hotel here in which senior officials from the two states and the Centre also took part.

It was the third meeting between the two chief ministers during the past over a year on the issue and the second one during the current year being presided over by Shekhawat in which both CMs are present.

Ahead of the meeting, a few farmers' outfits from Punjab held a protest in Mohali against the meeting, saying Punjab does not have any surplus water to share with anyone.

The SYL canal issue has been a bone of contention between the two states for the past several years.

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

The project envisages a 214-kilometre canal, of which a 122-kilometre stretch was to be constructed in Punjab and the remaining 92 kilometres in Haryana.

Haryana has completed the project in its territory but Punjab, which launched the work in 1982, shelved it.

Haryana was carved out of Punjab on November 1, 1966.

The Haryana government wants the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on the construction of the SYL canal.

Referring to the SYL issue, Mann said, "As the case is going on in the Supreme Court, the court directed Centre that both states should hold a meeting." "From Punjab's side, I kept my side, I have put forward the same stand which I did earlier too. We do not have water, so how can we construct a canal?” he said.

"Haryana says Punjab should first construct a canal, but we are saying when there is no water then a canal is to be constructed for what? If there is no water, how will the canal be constructed," Mann said.

He said after 25 years, Riparian laws are reviewed worldwide, "but our agreement was never reviewed".

"We have given one suggestion that under the Indus treaty a tunnel was to be built from Chenab to Ravi river in which 5 million acre feet of water was to come and if that is built, water will come to Ravi too," Mann said.

On the lines of the meeting held on January 4 in Delhi between Mann and Khattar which was also presided by Shekhawat, he reiterated that in today's meeting he demanded his state too should get water from Yamuna river in Haryana.

"We gave the YSL (Yamuna-Sutlej Link) formula," Mann said.

"Haryana is Punjab's younger brother, they too need water, but they have other channels to get water like Yamuna-Sharda link," he said.

He said Sutlej is not a river, “it has become a nullah”.

"We have told them that we are firm on our earlier stand that we do not have water," he said.

Mann said that if Punjab has to irrigate every field, the state needs 52 million-acre feet of water whereas only 14.5 MAF is available.

"Whereas our ground water has gone down to 600 to 700 feet. Even the Union Minister said today that 70 per cent of Punjab is in a dark zone where groundwater has been exploited.

"I also said the depths at which water is drawn by us and power that is used, with motors of the same horsepower, oil is taken out in Dubai. So, we do not have water," he said.

Mann said his government is taking several steps to conserve water.

Replying to a question, Mann said no water flows to Pakistan from Punjab.

"5 MAF goes to Pakistan, this is the water which was to come from Chenab (in J&K) to Ravi," he said.

"Yes, when floods came this year, we had asked whether they (Haryana) need water now, they said no. So, are we only drowning," Mann said.

The apex court had on October 4 asked the Centre to survey the portion of land in Punjab that the state was allocated for the construction of part of the SYL canal and make an estimate of the extent of construction carried out there.

Haryana has been seeking completion of the canal to get its share of 3.5 MAF water, and also that Punjab should comply with the Supreme Court orders for the completion of the canal. PTI