Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said his Government would be approaching the Supreme Court to seek implementation of its two judgments that would pave the way for completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal so that Haryana gets its full share of surplus water from the Ravi and Beas rivers.
Talking to the media on completion of 100 days in office, Mr. Khattar said Punjab had taken a one-sided decision in the matter but now the Supreme Court order in the Cauvery water dispute issue has shown Haryana the way.
He said since the Presidential reference of 2004 was already pending in the matter, the Haryana Government would move the apex court for its early hearing.
The dispute between Haryana and Punjab over sharing of surplus water from the Ravi and the Beas dates back nearly five decades.
The agreement dividing 15.85 million acre feet of surplus Ravi-Beas waters between Punjab, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir was signed in 1955 and after reorganisation of Punjab and creation of Haryana, the latter was allocated 3.5 MAF by the Centre in 1976.
For carrying these waters, the work on Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal was started in 1980 but when it was nearly 95 per cent complete Punjab stopped the work.
Subsequently, Haryana moved the Supreme Court in 1996 which ordered Punjab in 2004 to complete the remaining portion of the canal. However, the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004 annulling all inter-State agreements signed by the State relating to sharing of Ravi and Beas waters.
Thereafter, the Centre had through a Presidential reference under Section 143 of the Constitution sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on the validity of the Termination of Agreements Act and the matter was on February 28, 2005 listed for hearing.
Mr. Khattar also disclosed that with the opening of the new Munak canal, some water of the Yamuna is getting saved and this is being shared by Haryana with Delhi. He said this extra water was earlier going waste. “It was a national loss which has been curbed. We are not releasing any extra water to Delhi from Haryana’s share,” he said, adding that 719 cusecs of water is what Delhi continues to get from Haryana via this canal.