Day before SYL hearing in SC, Amarinder meets Union minister

A day before the Supreme Court is to take up the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi.

However, an official release quoting the chief minister said he did not discuss the issue with the Union minister but sought a comprehensive mechanism from the Centre to check recurrence of floods as the state was not in a position to bear losses every year.

The chief minister said he suggested measures like desilting and creation of water reservoirs to tackle floods and said it was now "up to the Union ministry" to find out ways and means to avert such a crisis in future.

About the SYL hearing in the apex court, Amarinder Singh said the matter was sub-judice and he could not comment it.

In the last hearing in July, the apex court had asked the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana to form a committee to resolve the SYL issue with the Centre's mediation.

"We hope and trust that functionaries of both states will rise to the occasion to find out a solution, which is in the interest of all," the apex court had then said, adding that if required, they would hear the matter on merit.

In July, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Punjab had no problem in sharing water with anyone, if it had enough of the vital resource.

"Unfortunately, the water situation in the state is critical with the groundwater depleting to shocking levels and threatening to transform Punjab into a desert," Amarinder had asserted while hoping for an amicable solution to the issue.

However, meetings between officials of Punjab and Haryana on this contentious issue remained inconclusive.

The SYL has been a contentious issue between Punjab and Haryana since long.

Punjab has been maintaining that the quantum of water flowing through the Ravi and Beas rivers had come down considerably, therefore, seeking a reassessment of the water volume.

Haryana has been seeking the completion of the SYL canal to get its share of 3.5 million acre feet of river waters and had asserted that the Punjab should comply with the 2002 and 2004 Supreme Court orders.

Presently, it is getting 1.62 million acre feet of the Ravi-Beas waters.