Chandigarh : Deadlock prevailed between Punjab and Haryana over the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal at the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) meeting presided over by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here today, with Haryana terming the issue as “non-negotiable”.
Haryana Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar, who was present at the meeting, said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had made it clear that there was no question of any dialogue on the SYL canal issue since the Supreme Court’s judgment had attained finality. He said what all states had agreed to was the suggestion of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to hold meetings at the level of officers and political executives on all other contentious issues of sharing power and water.
Earlier, Sanjeevani Kutty, Secretary, Inter-State Council Secretariat, and Karan Avtar Singh, Punjab Chief Secretary, told reporters that Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan agreed to Rajnath’s suggestion of discussing all inter-state river issues at a meeting of CMs and chief secretaries so as to arrive at mutually acceptable solutions.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said  though Haryana had less land, it was given more water at the time of Punjab’s reorganisation. Punjab did not get any share in the Yamuna waters, he maintained.
Khattar, however, said: “Haryana is a water-stressed state. Against a demand of 36 million acre feet (MAF), the availability of water in Haryana is only 14.7 MAF. We give additional water to Delhi in compliance with the Supreme Court orders out of our share in the Yamuna waters. This, despite the fact that Punjab is not giving Haryana its full share in the Ravi-Beas waters.”
“Thousands of villages and millions of hectares in Haryana are bereft of water, which we are entitled to get from Punjab,” Khattar said.
Capt Amarinder reiterated his demand for re-assessment and re-determination of the availability of surface water in the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. He urged the Centre to take expert advice on how to make reliable estimates of future flows in these rivers.
Khattar said, “We are not in agreement with Punjab on its proposal of exclusive investment in Bhakra Main Line Canal and exclusive utilisation of electricity generated there-from by Punjab.”
The Punjab CM, meanwhile, requested the J&K Government to ratify the pact for resumption of construction on the Shahpur Kandi Dam project, stalled since 2014.