SYL: Rajnath’s move to break ice fails

DRAMA After Union home minister presses for dialogue to resolve the water dispute, Punjab says both states have agreed to initiate talks; Haryana shoots down Capt govt’s claim

CHANDIGARH:Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday made a failed attempt to get Punjab and Haryana on board to try and find a mutually acceptable solution to the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue through dialogue.

The Union minister , who was chairing the 28th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) here, suggested that the chief ministers and chief secretaries of the two states sit and discuss the canal issue threadbare to arrive at a solution. “Efforts should first be made through marathon meetings, failing which the matter should be left to the court to decide,” he said. Both Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar were present.

While the home minister’s intervention did not get the desired response, the subsequent contradictory claims of the governments of Punjab and Haryana triggered a chain of events that revived the fault lines between the states over the controversial canal. After the meet, Amarinder’s office released a press note which said that responding to the home minister’s call, both states had agreed to try and find a “collective solution to the dispute” through dialogue.

“The home minister’s plea came after the Punjab chief minister pushed for consensual resolution of the SYL dispute, while calling for coordination by the states concerned with the Government of India to find a feasible solution for optimal utilisation of river waters based on internationally accepted riparian principles,” it added.

But the claim was strongly rebutted by the Haryana government within hours, with agriculture minister OP Dhankar issuing a written statement, calling it “misleading and incorrect”. He said that Khattar had made it abundantly clear that there was no question of any dialogue on SYL since the Supreme Court’s judgment has attained finality and Haryana’s execution petition is listed for hearing in July, 2017.

He further said all participating states had, in fact, agreed to hold meetings at the level of officers and political executives on all other contentious issues of sharing of power and water.

The district police on Friday arrested a man after recovering over six quintal poppy husk, worth ₹20 lakh, from his possession at Dhurkot village here. “A crime investigation agency team, led by Kikkar Singh, seized four bags of poppy husk from a car,” said deputy superintendent of police (DSP, investigation) Sarabjit Singh. “Accused Inderjit Singh of Dalla village said he had stored the drugs in a house at Dhurkot,” he added. Police said the house belongs to Inderjit’s brother-in-law, a Non-Resident Indian. Sarabjit said, “The accused along with his cousin Charanjit Singh used to smuggle drugs in the state. Charanjit will be arrested soon.” A case under Sections 15, 25-61-85 of the NDPS Act has been registered at Ajitwal police station. HTC