Supreme Court’s ruling on Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal should be executed, says Manohar Lal Khattar

The apex court’s ruling on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal and sharing of Ravi-Beas water should be implemented and the state should get its rightful share, said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday.

He said the state has presented its case on the issue in a high-level meeting yesterday and has submitted memoranda to President Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the rightful share of Haryana in the water, which has been decided as per agreement.

Asserting that the Supreme Court had ruled in the state’s favour, Khattar said, “Haryana should get its rightful share of water.”

Notably, the Haryana government has urged the Centre to get the incomplete part of the SYL canal constructed at the earliest, and, also ensure implementation of the final verdict of the Supreme Court in this matter.

Yesterday, state chief secretary D S Dhesi met the secretary of the Water Resources ministry in New Delhi and presented Haryana’s case on the issue.

Punjab had yesterday urged the Narendra Modi government to intervene in the SYL issue to save the state from an “ecological disaster”, after it apprised the Centre of the “critical water situation” it was grappled with and its inability to share waters with the neighbouring states.

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Punjab and Haryana are locked in a dispute over sharing of Ravi-Beas waters for decades. While Haryana wants its share, as was decided when the state was carved out of Punjab along with Himachal Pradesh 50 years ago, successive Punjab governments have refused to share water.

The dispute on the SYL canal is currently pending in the Supreme Court where the case will come up for next hearing on April 27.

During the last hearing, the Central government had sought deferment in view of the April 20 meeting convened by it to resolve the issue festering between Haryana and Punjab for the past several decades.

The new Punjab government has also sought time from the Supreme Court to prepare its case.

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