Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: A day after the Supreme Court asked the Union government to conduct a survey of the land meant for the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal in Punjab to know how much work has been done and asked the Punjab Government to extend cooperation in the survey, the Punjab cabinet on Thursday said that there is no question of construction of the SYL canal as the state does not have any spare water to share with other states.
It is firmly said that the Satluj river has already dried up and there is no question of sharing even a single drop of water from it. It was also observed that 76.5 % of blocks in Punjab (117 out of 153) are over-exploited where the stage of groundwater extraction is more than 100 %, whereas in Haryana only 61.5 % (88 out of 143) are over-exploited.
After the cabinet meeting, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab does not have a single drop of water to share with anyone, other than what it already shares with other states. So no additional water will be given. Sources said that no formal agenda for the cabinet meeting was circulated, but the meeting was called to discuss the SYL issue, and also to grant approval to the appointment of Gurminder Singh as the new advocate general of Punjab.
Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa posted on X, “At the hearing in the SC, the counsel for the AAP-led Punjab government blamed the delay in constructing SYL on pressure from the opposition and problems acquiring land from farmers. With such an insincere and apathetic argument, the AAP government wants to convey that they are willing to construct the SYL canal and give water to Haryana but the farmers and opposition parties do not let them do the same.’’
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) appealed to the people to ‘gherao’ Central teams wishing to conduct a survey of the SYL canal land in the state, even as it asserted that it was ready for any sacrifice but would not allow the SYL canal to come up in Punjab. SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia also asked both the AAP government as well as the state unit of the Punjab BJP to clarify their stand on the proposed survey which was to be conducted by the Centre.
CHANDIGARH: A day after the Supreme Court asked the Union government to conduct a survey of the land meant for the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal in Punjab to know how much work has been done and asked the Punjab Government to extend cooperation in the survey, the Punjab cabinet on Thursday said that there is no question of construction of the SYL canal as the state does not have any spare water to share with other states.
It is firmly said that the Satluj river has already dried up and there is no question of sharing even a single drop of water from it. It was also observed that 76.5 % of blocks in Punjab (117 out of 153) are over-exploited where the stage of groundwater extraction is more than 100 %, whereas in Haryana only 61.5 % (88 out of 143) are over-exploited.
After the cabinet meeting, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab does not have a single drop of water to share with anyone, other than what it already shares with other states. So no additional water will be given. Sources said that no formal agenda for the cabinet meeting was circulated, but the meeting was called to discuss the SYL issue, and also to grant approval to the appointment of Gurminder Singh as the new advocate general of Punjab.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa posted on X, “At the hearing in the SC, the counsel for the AAP-led Punjab government blamed the delay in constructing SYL on pressure from the opposition and problems acquiring land from farmers. With such an insincere and apathetic argument, the AAP government wants to convey that they are willing to construct the SYL canal and give water to Haryana but the farmers and opposition parties do not let them do the same.’’
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) appealed to the people to ‘gherao’ Central teams wishing to conduct a survey of the SYL canal land in the state, even as it asserted that it was ready for any sacrifice but would not allow the SYL canal to come up in Punjab. SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia also asked both the AAP government as well as the state unit of the Punjab BJP to clarify their stand on the proposed survey which was to be conducted by the Centre.
