Punjab not willing to accept SC verdict, will bring to apex court’s notice: Haryana CM

The Union Water Resources Minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday held an important meeting on the issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal with the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab in New Delhi.

Divulging the details about the meeting, Manohar Lal Khattar said that no consensus has been reached in this meeting as well. He said that the Supreme Court in its decision had announced that SYL should be constructed but the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his administrative wing are not ready to find any solution to this issue. “Instead of discussing this pivotal issue, the Punjab Chief Minister and his administrative wing are repeatedly saying that there is no water in the state. Rather they are asking to discuss sharing of water whereas a separate tribunal has been set up for discussing issues related to water sharing. Distribution of water will be done according to the recommendation of the tribunal,” said Khattar.

The Chief Minister said that Punjab is not even accepting the Supreme Court’s decision wherein the Act brought by the Punjab government in the year 2004 has been repealed. “The Punjab Chief Minister says that the 2004 Act still exists which is completely unconstitutional,” added the CM.

The Chief Minister said that the SYL Canal should be built and the Haryana government would apprise the Supreme Court about Punjab’s reluctant attitude over this issue.

“We will accept the decision of the Supreme Court in this regard,” said Khattar. The Chief Minister clarified that SYL is the right of Haryana residents and he is hopeful that the state will get this right.

Now it is necessary to fix a timeline in this matter so that the availability of water to the farmers of the state can be ensured, he added.

The Chief Minister said that it is a well-known fact that despite two Supreme Court judgments, Punjab has not completed the construction of SYL. Instead of implementing the decisions of the Supreme Court, Punjab tried to obstruct their implementation by enacting the Cancellation of Agreements Act in 2004.