Amid SYL row, Punjab calls 2-day Assembly session on Oct 20-21

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has called a two-day session of the state Assembly on October 20 and 21, amid a political row over a Supreme Court directive on the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal.

The decision comes days after the state Cabinet had said that there was no question of building the SYL canal in Punjab as the state has no water to spare for Haryana.

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

“Under second proviso to Rule 16 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly), the speaker has been pleased to call the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, which was adjourned sine die on 20th June, 2023 to meet at 11 am on Friday, 20th October, 2023 in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha,” said a notice of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha secretariat.

Officials said the October 20-21 session will be an extension of the fourth session -- the budget session in March — of the current legislative Assembly.

Since the fourth session has not been prorogued yet, an approval of the governor to call a sitting of the Assembly is not required and the Assembly speaker is competent to convene it, said official sources.

Besides the SYL canal, some other issues are also likely to be discussed in the session, the sources said.

The opposition parties have turned the heat on the AAP government over the SYL issue, accusing it of “weakening” Punjab’s stand in the Supreme Court by stating that the state government was “ready to build the canal but the opposition parties and farmers were not allowing it”.