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Punjab won’t spare a single drop of addl water for any state: CM Bhagwant Mann
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann declared this after an emergency meeting of the state cabinet at his residence, the meeting comes a day after Supreme Court asked Centre to continue the mediation process to resolve the dispute between Haryana and Punjab over SYL canal issue
Punjab chief minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said that not a single drop of additional water will be given to any other state at any cost.
The CM declared this after an emergency meeting of the state cabinet at his residence. “The issue of SYL was discussed in the meeting. Not even a single drop of additional water will be given to any other state at any cost,” Mann said in post on X.
He said the cabinet also considered convening the monsoon session of the state assembly soon. Though no dates were indicated, the session could be called as early as next week. The cabinet meeting was held a day after the Supreme Court asked the Centre to continue the mediation process to resolve the festering dispute between Haryana and Punjab over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue and survey the portion of the land in Punjab allocated for the canal.
On Wednesday, the opposition Congress had also urged the CM to call a special session of the Punjab assembly to decide the future course of action on this issue.
Earlier, AAP Punjab chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang had demanded that a tribunal be constituted to know the situation of water in SYL and Punjab. He said the tribunal should conduct an in-depth study on the matter as to whether Punjab is in a position to provide water to other states in the present circumstances or not. “The land which was notified for SYL has now also been denotified. Now notifying it again will create many problems. So now it is not possible to make SYL because we neither have extra water nor the required land. We will put this matter before the court in a legal manner and will also raise it before the Central government,” said the spokesperson of the ruling party in the state.
Kang also said the water situation in Punjab is no longer the same as it was 50 years ago. “Today Punjab itself is struggling with water issues. Recently, in the North Zonal Council meeting, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had said that Punjab cannot give additional water to any state,” he added.
