Hry CM seeks Centre help to resolve SYL issue with Punjab

CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has sought the Centre’s intervention to solve the long-pending Sutlej-yamuna link canal issue with Punjab so that the state could get its share of river waters.

Speaking during the sixth Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday through video conferencing, Khattar explained several steps being taken by his government for water conservation.

According to a state government release, Khattar also sought the Centre’s intervention in resolving the issue of the Hansi-butana link canal.

He told the prime minister that several areas of the state fell in the dark zone category due to depleting groundwater levels, therefore, if the SYL and Hansibutana Link Canal issues are resolved, the problem of water scarcity in Haryana will be addressed. The Sutlej-yamuna Link (SYL) canal has been a contentious issue between the two states since long with the Punjab portion of the canal still incomplete. Its construction had begun in 1982. Punjab has been demanding the reassessment of the Ravi-beas river waters’ volume while Haryana has been seeking the completion of the SYL canal to get its share of 3.5 million acre feet (MAF).

Khattar had earlier pointed out as to how Punjab was not even allowing linking of the Hansi-butana canal with the Bhakra main line even though it did not involve drawing even a single drop of Punjab’s water by Haryana.

On the GST issue, CM that in its collection, Haryana is at the forefront. He, however, urged the PM to formulate a plan for incentivising the states having the maximum GST collection.

Assuring to play a pivotal role in the prime minister’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” vision, Khattar said the state government with the spirit of “antyodaya” is already moving swiftly in this direction and efforts are being made for successful implementation of state’s ambitious “Parivar Pehchan Patra” (family ID card) scheme to ensure that person standing last in the queue gets the benefit of government schemes. The chief minister said for minimising the cost of doing business, the Logistics and Warehousing Policy, 2019, had been launched.