Sutlej-Yamuna Link row: Union Minister to meet Punjab, Hry CMs

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will be holding a meeting with chief ministers of Haryana and Punjab here on Thursday on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue.

According to a Haryana government statement on Wednesday, Shekhawat will hold the meeting to address the long-standing Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) issue. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann will be attending the meeting, it said.

Khattar had recently written a letter to Mann and had expressed readiness to hold a meeting to resolve any obstacles or issues related to the SYL canal’s construction.

Mann too had earlier this month said that he would attend the meeting, but asserted that the state has no spare water to share with any other state.

The SYL canal issue has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for the past several years.

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