With Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann maintaining that the state ‘does not have even a single drop of water to share his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar demanding construction of Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, the two states yet again failed to reach consensus on this contentious issue during the meeting called by the Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi on Wednesday.

While Khattar accused the Punjab CM of lacking the will to find a solution to the SYL issue, Mann said more than 78 per cent of 150 blocks in Punjab are in extreme dark zones due to depletion of ground water table, so the state can’t afford to share its water with any other state.

“Instead of discussing this pivotal issue, the Punjab chief minister and his administrative wing are repeatedly saying that there is no water in the state. Rather they are asking to discuss sharing of water whereas a separate tribunal has been set up for discussing issues related to water sharing. Distribution of water will be done according to the recommendation of the tribunal,” Khattar said.

The Haryana CM said SYL is the right of Haryana residents and he is hopeful that the state will get this right. Despite two Supreme Court judgments, Punjab has not completed the construction of SYL. Instead of implementing the decisions of the apex court, Punjab tried to obstruct their implementation by enacting the cancellation of agreements Act in 2004.

On his part, the Punjab CM said when this anti-Punjab agreement for the canal was inked the state was getting 18.56 million acre feet (MAF) of water which has now been reduced to 12.63 MAF.

“Now, we don’t have any surplus water to share with any state. Haryana is currently getting 14.10 MAF of water from Satluj, Yamuna and other rivulets whereas Punjab is getting only 12.63 MAF,” he added.

Mann said instead of Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, the project should be now conceived as Yamuna Satluj Link (YSL). He said that Satluj river has already dried up and there is no question of sharing even a single drop of water from it. Rather, he said, water from Ganga and Yamuna should be supplied to Punjab through Satluj river.

Both the CMs had earlier met on October 15 to resolve the issue but it remained inconclusive. Shekhawat had called this meeting today between Mann and Khattar after the Supreme Court nudged both the states to sit together and sort the issue.