Punjab, Haryana CMs discuss SYL canal issue in 'cordial atmosphere'

Chandigarh (PTI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday discussed the long-pending Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue "in a cordial atmosphere".

After the meeting, both the chief ministers addressed the media and said that officers of both the state governments will now hold meetings to discuss the contentious issue.

The meeting, which was held at a hotel in Chandigarh, lasted for more than an hour.

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

Last May, the Supreme Court directed the two states to cooperate with the Centre for an amicable solution to the decades-old dispute.

Speaking to the media, Saini said the discussions took place in a very positive atmosphere, and that "when discussions happen in a good atmosphere, they yield fruitful results." Saini said the meeting was held as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

"We have decided that in the coming days, our officials will hold meetings and discuss this matter. Whatever issues emerge from those discussions will be brought before both of us. We will sit down and move them forward," Saini said.

Mann also said that the meeting was cordial, and "Haryana is not our enemy, it is our brother." "At the meeting, I put forth my side, he (Saini) presented his side," Mann said, adding, "The Supreme Court and the Centre had asked us to hold talks over this issue."

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

With the dispute lingering on for decades, the top court on January 15, 2002 ruled in favour of Haryana in a suit filed by the state in 1996 and directed the Punjab government to construct its portion of the SYL canal.

The Punjab government has been maintaining that the state has no surplus water for others and demanding its legitimate share of the Indus waters.

The Haryana government also has been demanding its share of the rivers' water, which it said it was not getting due to non-construction of the SYL canal.

Following Supreme Court directions, Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil had convened a meeting of Mann and Saini in on July 9 to address the long-standing issue. Later, he convened another meeting of both the chief ministers on August 5 last year.

In one of the meetings, Mann had urged the Centre to utilise the Chenab River water to resolve the dispute and sought scrapping of the SYL canal project.

He had also mooted the idea of a Yamuna Sutlej Link (YSL) canal instead of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, stating that Sutlej has already dried up and not a single drop of its water could be shared.

Rather, water from the Ganga and Yamuna rivers should be supplied to Punjab through the Sutlej, Mann had said, highlighting the SYL canal as an "emotive issue".