Will again discuss SYL canal issue with Punjab, Haryana: Shekhawat

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Saturday said the Central government will again hold a meeting with Punjab and Haryana to resolve the contentious issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

Shekhawat was replying to a question on his meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar over the SYL issue in Chandigarh on December 28.

The minister said the Centre, earlier, also had tried to build some consensus in the matter on the directions of the Supreme Court.

"This time again, we will make an effort and hold a discussion together and if any way out is found then we will work on the same. Otherwise, we will work as per the directions of the SC," said Shekhawat.

The Union minister was here to attend the Viksit Bharat Sankalap Yatra.

On December 14, Haryana CM Khattar said that Shekhawat had called the meeting of both the CMs over the SYL issue on December 28 in Chandigarh.

Punjab CM Mann had said he would attend the meeting, but reiterated that the state has not even a single drop of water to share with other states.

Mann had also said that he would firmly present Punjab's case before the Union government in the meeting.

Khattar had said that the Haryana government wanted the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on the construction of the SYL canal.

The last meeting between Punjab and Haryana over the SYL issue was held on October 14, 2022. Both the states had then failed to make any headway in the ongoing deadlock over the contentious SYL canal issue.

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

The canal was conceptualised for the effective sharing of water between the two states from the Ravi and the Beas rivers. The project envisages a 214-kilometre canal, of which a 122-kilometre stretch is to be constructed in Punjab and the remaining 92 km in Haryana.

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

The top court had also asked the central government to actively pursue the mediation process to resolve the festering dispute between both states over the construction of the canal.

Haryana has completed the project in its territory but Punjab, which launched the work in 1982, shelved it.