Punjab Assembly passes resolutions against SYL

A special session of the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed two resolutions on the SYL issue, directing the state government not to “hand over land to any agency” and also “not to allow anyone to work for the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal.” 

The second resolution said the State government should take up the matter with with the Centre and neighbouring states for levying “cost and royalty” on the release of water.

The special session of the assembly was convened on Wednesday on the issue of SYL issue after the Supreme Court on November 10 held the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, passed by Punjab to terminate water sharing pacts with neighbouring states as “unconstitutional”.

On Tuesday the Punjab cabinet had announced to denotify the land acquired for the SYL project and return it to the “original owners” at no cost.

However, Congress MLAs were absent from the House as they had resigned from the Assembly last week, though the Assembly Speaker had earlier said that the “matter was under consideration”.

The first official resolution was moved by Punjab Parliamentary Affairs minister Madan Mohan Mittal, sought from the House to direct the state government to take up the matter with the Centre, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi to levy “cost and royalty” on water being supplied to these states.

The second resolution was moved by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in which he sought directions from the House to “the Punjab government, Cabinet and all government officers and officials not to hand over the land of Punjab for the construction of Sutlej, Yamuna link Canal, neither allow anybody to work on it, not to cooperate for the said purpose”.