Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini held a 40-minute meeting on the decades old contentious and emotive issue of sharing of river waters through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, and agreed to form a joint committee of secretary-level officers to further deliberate to find an amicable resolution.
The day started with the two leaders meeting over breakfast, ahead of the formal talks between the two state government delegations. This was the sixth meeting between the two sides to find a solution through dialogue. The first meeting was held in 2020 during the tenure of the Congress government led by Capt Amarinder Singh. The case is to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court in April.
As expected, no immediate resolution was reached at the meeting today, with Punjab claiming it did not have enough water to spare, though it “wanted to help younger brother Haryana”. On the other hand, Haryana insisted that the Supreme Court order on the construction of the SYL canal be implemented.
However, the two states have moved forward by deciding to let their secretaries hold meetings every 10-15 days and report further to their respective chief secretaries. Once talks at the level of chief secretaries are complete, they will brief their respective chief ministers. “The issues discussed at the level of the officers will then be flagged to us,” said the two CMs after the meeting.
At a joint media briefing, Saini invoked the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev, while Mann referred to Haryana as Punjab’s “brother, and not enemy”. “We Punjabis are the descendants of Bhai Kanhaiya, who would give water to injured enemies in a war. Haryana is not Punjab’s enemy, but younger brother,” he said.
Read More
Saini said as in the past, the talks were positive and held in a cordial atmosphere. “Ours has been a land of Gurus and their teachings are our guiding light. The Supreme Court had directed the two states to hold deliberations, following which we have been holding meetings. The last meeting was held under the chairmanship of Union Water Resources Minister CR Patil last year. Through dialogue, we expect a constructive outcome. Our officers will hold talks and the outcome will be put up before us. We will then take it forward,” said Saini.
Later, in a statement, Mann said, “Even now, while we face a sharply declining groundwater table, we are keeping just 40 per cent of our river waters and giving 60 per cent to non-riparian states Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan. But we stand firm in safeguarding Punjab’s interests… the state will face a law and order problem if Punjab is asked to give additional water. We are not depriving anyone of their rights, but Punjab has no surplus water. Even Punjab wants an early resolution of this issue. ‘Kisi ka haq nahin marna chahiye, na hi Punjab ka, na hi Haryana ka (all, including Punjab and Haryana, should get their due)”.
Irrigation and Water Resources Minister of both Punjab and Haryana, Barinder Kumar Goyal and Shruti Choudhry, besides officers from the two states, including Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha and Chief Principal Secretary to Haryana CM Rajesh Khullar, were present at the meeting