SYL row: Haryana CM ML Khattar to meet Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on Oct 14
Jasleen Kaur
October 11th 2022 02:57 PM --
Updated:
October 11th 2022 03:00 PM
Chandigarh, October 11: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann will be meeting on October 14 to discuss the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.
- Punjab took Rs 1 crore from Haryana on November 18, 1976, and approved the SYL construction in 1977. Later, Punjab started raising issues over the construction work.
- In 1979, Haryana moved the Supreme Court seeking the construction of the SYL canal. However, Punjab challenged Section 78 of the Reorganization Act in the Supreme Court on July 11, 1979.
- After the dismissal of the Punjab Government in 1980, an agreement was reached between Haryana and Punjab in the presence of former PM Indira Gandhi in 1981. In 1982, Indira Gandhi kick-started the construction of the SYL canal at Kapuri village of Patiala.
- In opposition to this, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) opened a front against the excavation of the SYL. In 1985, the Rajiv-Longowal agreement was reached, in which the construction of the canal was agreed upon.
- On July 3, 1990, two engineers involved in the construction of SYL were allegedly murdered. The then Haryana CM Hukam Singh demanded that the construction work be handed over to the BSF.
- In 2019, the Supreme Court said if both states do not construct the canal, then the court will take up the construction. The Supreme Court has now issued a notice to both Haryana and Punjab to resolve this issue.