How can Punjab provide water when it is depleted: K T S Tulsi

Senior advocate K T S Tulsi on Saturday expressed his disappointment over the Supreme Court's order to terminate the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water sharing agreement and said if the water in Punjab is already depleted, how will they be able to give water to other states.

"The reality is 75 percent of Punjab water is already going to other states. Whatever was the availability of water in 1966 or 1942 or 1947, the same water level is not available. If the water is already depleted considerably, how will Punjab be able to give water to the other states," Tulsi told ANI.

Tulsi said that the order which was passed 14 years ago cannot be carried out today when the factual situation and reality is totally different.

"If the reality of today would have been presented in front of the Supreme Court, then they would have noticed that the orders passed can be physically executed or not," he said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday held the 2004 law passed by Punjab to terminate the SYL canal water sharing agreement between neighbouring states as unconstitutional.

Following which, Congress Punjab state president Captain Amarinder Singh decided to quit as a member of the 16th Lok Sabha from the Amritsar constituency in Punjab with immediate effect "as a mark of protest against the deprivation of the people of Punjab of the much-needed Sutlej river water.