Chandigarh, Mar 3 (PTI) Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema slammed the BJP government in Haryana on Tuesday over the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue, saying its recently presented budget did not have any funds earmarked for the project in view of the 2027 polls in the border state.
His remark is being seen as a rebuff to Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s frequent visits to Punjab and presenting the model of his governance to the people of the neighbouring state as a viable alternative to the AAP’s model of governance.
Haryana’s opposition parties — the Congress and INLD — claimed there was no mention of taking over the state’s share of SYL water from Punjab in the budget.
Replying to a question on the SYL canal issue on Tuesday, Cheema said, “Every year they (Haryana government) keep funds for the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal. But this year, they did not in the wake of the 2027 assembly polls in Punjab.” “I think they will clarify that they have closed the SYL chapter. I think they will leave the claim over the SYL in the Supreme Court and meetings of states’ committees,” the Punjab minister said.
The SYL canal issue has been a bone of contention between the two states.
The Punjab government has been maintaining that the state has no surplus water for others and demanding its legitimate share of the Indus waters. On the other hand, the Haryana government has been demanding its share of river waters, which, it asserted, has not been getting due to the non-construction of the SYL canal.
Last May, the Supreme Court directed the two states to cooperate with the Centre for an amicable solution to the decades-old dispute over the canal.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini discussed the SYL canal issue on January 27.
During that meeting, Mann had asserted that his government stands committed to safeguarding the state’s interests in the water dispute, while pursuing a mutually agreed resolution of the SYL canal issue.
Amid no consensus in the meeting on the contentious issues, both the chief ministers had then decided that the officers of both states would deliberate on this issue and would brief them on its progress.
The SYL canal was conceptualised for the effective sharing of water between the two states from the Ravi and Beas rivers. The project envisages a 214-kilometre canal, of which 122 km was to be constructed in Punjab and the remaining 92 km in Haryana.
Haryana has completed the project in its territory, but Punjab, which launched the work in 1982, shelved it. PTI CHS NSD NSD
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