New Delhi, July 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened a meeting of chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana in an attempt to arrive at an amicable solution to the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal issue, the Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday.
During a hearing of the case, senior counsel AK Ganguly told a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra on behalf of Punjab that the Prime Minister had convened a meeting of the two chief ministers.
As Ganguly made the all-important statement, Attorney General KK Venugopal said he was not aware of it. “I was not informed by the water resources secretary about any such meeting. But if it’s happening, it’s good,” Venugopal told the Bench.
The Attorney General explained the background of the case and requested the Bench to give two months to arrive at a negotiated settlement of the vexed problem.
Venugopal said much of the work on the canal in Haryana had been completed and it was only the Punjab part that remained pending. “Two of the engineers who went to start the work on the SYL canal in Punjab were shot and killed,” he said.
The Bench directed both states to ensure that there was no agitation on the SYL canal issue during pendency of the case.
“How can there be any agitation when the matter is pending before this court?” it wondered. The Bench asked Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda and Haryana Advocate General Baldev Mahajan to inform the authorities concerned about it during the day and fixed September 7 for further hearing.
The direction came after Nanda told the Bench a political party in Haryana was agitating on the issue and preventing vehicles with Punjab numbers from entering Haryana.
After the SC hearing, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealed to his Punjab counterpart Capt Amarinder Singh to take immediate steps for the construction of the Satluj-Yamuna-Link canal for the benefit of farmers of both states.
Thanking the top court for doing justice, Khattar appealed to Capt Amarinder Singh to cooperate in the construction of the canal in Punjab.
Welcoming the top court’s decision to give two months to resolve the SYL issue, Captain urged the Centre to facilitate dialogue with Haryana for an early resolution.
He said the problem could be solved only through negotiations and Punjab did not want to deprive anyone of this essential commodity (water). The critical shortage of water in the state prevented it from sharing this vital resource, he added.
During the hearing, Rajasthan also demanded that its rights must be safeguarded in any settlement between Punjab and Haryana.
Represented by senior advocates Shyam Divan and Jagdeep Dhankhar and the state’s Advocate General, Haryana demanded implementation of the decree and construction of the canal. “How long we will have to wait?” said Divan.
Punjab, represented by senior advocates AK Ganguly and RS Suri and the state’s Advocate General Nanda, contended that there were difficulties in implementation of the court’s decree.
Ganguly said the decree was premised on the fact that there was enough water in the river. But now there is not much water flow, making it impossible to give effect to it.
But the Bench said, “You first construct the canal, the water issue we will see later.”
Ganguly replied: “You are putting the cart before the horse.” “No, you are putting it (the cart before the horse),” the Bench shot back.
News Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com
