Mann Urges Centre to Divert Indus Waters to Punjab, Haryana

In a significant move aimed at ending the decades-old Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal dispute, Punjab on Wednesday proposed that the Central Government divert waters from the western rivers of the Indus basin—currently suspended under the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan—towards Punjab and Haryana.

- NEERAJ MOHAN/TARUNI GANDHI CHANDIGARH

The proposal was made during a meeting convened by Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Paatil, in line with Supreme Court directions to mediate the dispute between the two states.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, who attended the meeting alongside Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, said both the Union Minister and the Haryana CM responded positively to the suggestion.

"How long will we live with an ulcer? Why should waters from the Indus and western rivers go to Pakistan, a country that continues to shed our blood? Who should we fight—Haryana or Pakistan?" Mann said after the meeting.

The Central government on Wednesday held another round of crucial talks to settle the decades-old Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal dispute between Punjab and Haryana. However, the talks remained inconclusive and the next meeting has been fixed for August 5.

Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Paatil chaired the meeting held at New Delhi where Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, along with senior officials, participated.

This was the fourth such meeting called by the Centre ahead of the Supreme Court's August 13 deadline to resolve the issue.

During the meeting, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab was facing a severe water crisis and could not give water unless it also received water from the Ravi-Beas rivers.

He said, "SYL can be constructed, but Punjab must get water too. Haryana is not our enemy, it's our brother." "If we get 23 million acre feet (MAF) of Chenab waters and it is diverted towards Punjab and Haryana, the whole dispute will be resolved forever," Mann suggested during the meeting raising the issue of suspended Indus Waters.