A delegation of political leaders from Punjab and Haryana will seek the president’s intervention in the water-sharing row between the states, when they meet Pranab Mukherjee on Monday to put forward their cases on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal dispute. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will lead their state ministers and MPs to Rashtrapati Bhawan, PTI reported.
While the Punjab delegation will put forth the “grave injustice” being done to the state through a “brazen violation of the universally accepted riparian principle on river waters”, Haryana will seek the earliest implementation of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the case, which was in its favour. On November 10, the apex court had struck down a Punjab law that dismissed a pact to share water with five other states through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal.
As per the Supreme Court ruling, the Centre will now take over the construction of the conduit meant to distribute water among six states – Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Delhi. The Punjab government had denotified the land acquired to construct the canal to return the plots to the farmers.
All 42 legislators of the Congress had resigned from the Punjab Assembly, while state party president Amarinder Singh had resigned from the Lok Sabha, as a protest against the top court verdict.
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