SYL dispute: Logjam persists, fifth round of talks on August 5
A meeting between Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini was called by Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil at the national capital. It was agreed that the chief ministers would meet again with the Union minister in early August to continue working towards an amicable solution. The move comes amid increasing calls for the Centre to mediate between the states and uphold inter-state water-sharing agreements.
The Supreme Court on May 6 had directed the two states to cooperate with the central government in arriving at an amicable solution. 'In case the issue is not resolved amicably between the parties, we propose to take up the matter on August 13, 2025,' the apex court had said.
At the New Delhi meeting, both Mann and Saini struck divergent notes after holding deliberations on the completion of SYL canal. While Mann said Punjab did not have spare water to share with any other state, reiterating a review of water availability and non-availability of land for SYL canal, Saini sounded optimistic stating that a meaningful dialogue was held with Mann on the contentious issue.
Mann said that SYL canal being an emotive issue for Punjab will lead to serious law and order problems having national and regional ramifications with Haryana and Rajasthan also bearing the brunt. Saini, on his part, maintained that the Punjab CM acknowledged that the SYL canal issue should be resolved, being pending for far too long.
Saini also expressed confidence that a positive outcome will be achieved on this issue in the August 5 meeting.
Mann said out of 34.34 MAF (million acre feet) water of three rivers ( Ravi, Beas & Sutlej), Punjab was allocated only 14.22 MAF, which is 40%. 'The remaining 60% is allocated to Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan even though none of these rivers actually flow through these states,' Mann said.
'Haryana is already getting 1.62 MAF Ravi-Beas and 4.33 MAF Sutlej water which makes 5.95 MAF from these three rivers of Punjab. Besides, Haryana gets additional 4.65 MAF Yamuna waters and 1.62 MAF Sarda water by Sarda Yamuna Link,'' Mann said. He demanded that Punjab should be included as a partner state for Yamuna waters allocation and 60% surplus Yamuna water should be considered for Punjab.
The Punjab CM also suggested that the situation emerging after the suspension of Indus Waters Treaty should be taken advantage of to fulfil the water needs of Punjab by channelising water from the western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, Chenab within Indian territory and new storage dams upstream of Bhakra and Pong Dams in Himachal Pradesh should be constructed.
The Indus Waters Treaty, a 1960 water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan governing the use of Indus river system, which included three western rivers (the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) and three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) was suspended by India in April this year following a terror attack in Pahalgam, allegedly at the behest of Pakistan.
Mann also said that Punjab was facing groundwater depletion and must get priority in future strategies for the usage, diversion, or allocation of river waters. 'If we get 23 million acre feet (MAF) from Chenab, the whole dispute will be resolved forever,' the Punjab CM said.
'The long-conceived project of Sarda-Yamuna Link needs to be taken up on priority and surplus water be transferred to river Yamuna at a suitable location. Additional water available could offset the balance water requirement of the state of Haryana from the Ravi-Beas system apart from addressing the ever-growing drinking water requirement of Delhi and availability of the Yamuna water to Rajasthan,'' Mann said.
Haryana government is pressing for the implementation of Supreme Court's (SC) orders to complete the remaining portion of the canal by Punjab. The apex court in its January 15, 2002 and June 4, 2004 judgments had ordered completion of the remaining portion of canal in Punjab territory.
Conceived in 1978 to bring Haryana's share of Ravi-Beas water, the proposed 212-kilometre long SYL canal consisted of two segments, a 91-kilometre channel in Haryana and a 121 kilometre carrier channel in Punjab. Haryana completed its portion of the channel in 1979 at a cost of ₹56 crore, but Punjab has failed to complete the canal in its territory despite Supreme Court directions.
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