Urging the Central government to be cautious on the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said it had the potential to disturb the nation’s security.
The CM reiterated the need for a Tribunal to make a fresh time-bound assessment of the water availability, even as he sought complete share of water for his state from the total resource available, including from River Yamuna.
“You have to look at the issue from the national security perspective. If you decide to go ahead with SYL, Punjab will burn and it will become a national problem, with Haryana and Rajasthan also suffering the impact,” Amarinder told the Centre, during a Video Conference (VC) with Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Punjab remains at risk from all ends, said Amarinder, pointing to Pakistan’s continued attempts to foment trouble and to try and revive the separatist movement through the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) organisation. The water issue could further destabilise the state, he warned.
Punjab had a right to Yamuna water, in which it did not get a share at the time of 60:40 division of assets with Haryana during the state’s division in 1966, the CM said, even as he expressed his willingness to sit across the table with his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss the `emotive’ issue.
He also suggested Rajasthan be involved in discussions on the SYL canal (Ravi-Beas waters) issue as it was also a stakeholder.
It was decided during the meeting that the CMs of Punjab and Haryana will meet in Chandigarh, on a date to be fixed later, for further talks on the issue, and will then go to the Union minister again.
Putting forth Punjab’s stand during the VC, Amarinder said it was necessary to set up a Tribunal for fair adjudication of the water availability, and pointed out that the water sharing proposed by Eradi Commission was 40 years old, while international norms require a review every 25 years to ascertain the status.
Noting that there had, in fact, been no adjudication or scientific assessment of available Punjab river waters till date, the Chief Minister said that BBMB had reported that availability of Ravi-Beas water had come down from the estimated 17.17 million acre-feet (MAF) in 1981 to 13.38 MAF in 2013.
Despite being a non-basin state and having a smaller population as well as lesser cultivated land area, Haryana’s total availability of river water stood at 12.48 MAF as against Punjab’s 12.42 MAF, he noted.