Chandigarh : The central government will prepare a roadmap within 45 days to find a solution to the water-sharing issues between Haryana and Punjab, a central minister told Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday.
Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti pledged in New Delhi that the central government would prepare a roadmap within 45 days for finding a solution to the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) and other inter-state issues with Punjab.
“A meeting of the two chief ministers would be organized for the purpose in Chandigarh,” Bharti told Khattar.
“Since there is a BJP-led NDA government at the centre, the BJP is in power in Haryana and shares power in Punjab. Such problems can easily be solved in a friendly environment,” Bharti told the chief minister.
Khattar urged her to get the hearing done early through the Attorney General on the presidential reference to the Supreme Court on the SYL issue which has been pending for 10 years.
Referring to the demand of Delhi for more water, Khatar said that Haryana had no additional water to offer.
“Other states should also join in meeting the needs of Delhi. The other link of Ravi-Beas should be constructed soon to stop the excess water from going to Pakistan so that the availability of water could be increased in all states of the country,” Khattar said.