The SYL dispute has been unconcluded for more than 50 years now and this matter has been in Supreme Court for 40+ years without any verdict. Haryana-Punjab SYL is now considered an unending dispute and everyone is curious to know when will it be resolved. And for how long with this controversy last?
The state of Punjab is the land of 5 rivers namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj and they are tributaries of the River Indus. Haryana wants water from SYL which is proposed 214 kilometers long and connects rivers Satluj & Yamuna. But Punjab is not willing to share. Well, it has its valid reasons. A few days ago the Haryana Vidhan Sabha passed a resolution wherein they wanted that the Satluj-Yamuna canal should be completed and the water should be shared with Haryana. Although the water resources are under the State list the supreme power of making the decision is given to the Union.
To know exactly what’s the issue, we have jotted down a chronology of events for the Satluj-Yamuna Link dispute.
SYL Haryana-Punjab Dispute Chronology
SYL Dispute: Year 1955
The center evaluated the water flow of Ravi and Beas. It was calculated to be 15.85 million acre-feet (MAF) annually. Then it was decided to allocate the water to three different states, namely Rajasthan, Punjab, and Jammu & Kashmir.
SYL Dispute: Year 1966
After Haryana was formed, it was directed that Punjab should share 3.5 MAF from 7.2 MAF with Haryana.
SYL Dispute: Year 1981
Again, reassessment took place and it was analyzed that the water flowing was 17.17 MAF. Out of which the 4.22 MAF was allocated to Punjab. Haryana and Rajasthan took shares of 3.5 MAF and 8.6 MAF respectively. Everyone was happy as well as satisfied with the decision by then.
SYL Dispute: Year 1982
When our country was headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, she launched the construction of the SYL project. This was at the “Kapoori” village in Patiala, Punjab. The 214km canal had to be distributed in a way that 122km was for Punjab and 92 for Haryana.
The people of Punjab were against this decision to share waters with Haryana and they started an agitation in the context of the same and named it the ‘Kapoori Morcha’. This particular protest was led by the Akalis.
SYL Dispute: Year 1985
After the demise of Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India. He, with the Akali chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, decided to appoint a tribunal so that water sharing could be assessed. For this, the Eradi tribunal led by Justice V Balakrishna Eradi was formed. They were directed to analyze the availability of water in Punjab so that the sharing of water can take place. But unfortunately, on 20th August, Logowal was brutally murdered by militants. And this was only less than a month after signing the accord.
SYL Dispute: Year 1987
After the analysis, the Eradi tribunal recommended boosting the water shares of both states to 5MAF (Punjab) and 3.83 (Haryana)
SYL Dispute: Year 1990
In 1990, Chief Engineer ML Sekhri and Superintendent Engineer Avtar Singh Aulakh were the ones responsible for the SYL canal construction. Both were unfortunately killed by militants. Besides this, others were brutally shot dead and this was the reason why the canal construction came to a standstill.
At that point in time, the leaders of Punjab requested the center not to raise the SYL water-sharing issue again.
SYL Dispute: Year 1996
The Haryana government moves Supreme Court for resolving the issue.
Source: ilearnCANA
SYL Dispute: Year 2002-04
The Supreme power i.e., the Supreme Court directed the Punjab government to complete the pending construction of the Satluj-Yamuna link.
SYL Dispute: Year 2004
When Captain Amrinder Singh was the Chief Minister of Punjab, the assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act (PTAA). This agreement stated the termination of the water-sharing agreement thus jeopardizing SYL construction in Punjab.
SYL Dispute: Year 2016
The Supreme Court started hearing to decide the legality of the Act. It then declared that Punjab had taken a step back and did not share the waters of the river. Therefore the act was termed invalid constitutionally.
SYL Dispute: Year 2020
The Supreme Court instructed Punjab and Haryana Chief Ministers to negotiate and come to a conclusion on the Satluj-Yamuna Link issue.
Punjab requested the court that it needs time for analysis for deciding whether it can share the waters or not.
They then cleared that they are unable to share the waters as the availability of Ravi-Beas water has also decreased from 17.17 MAF in 1981 to 13.38 MAF in 2013.
SYL Dispute: Year 2022
Yesterday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann refused to share the waters with Haryana stating that the state is already facing water scarcity. He further added, “I can accompany Manohar Lal Khattar (Chief Minister of Haryana) to request the PM to allow for water from other rivers to be allocated to Haryana, but there is no surplus water in Ravi and Beas to be shared with Haryana,”
We hope this issue will be resolved soon.
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