SYL CANAL DISPUTE

 SYL CANAL DISPUTE

The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal or SYL as it is popularly known is a 214 kilometers (133 mi) long canal under construction in India that connects the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. However, the proposal ran into obstacles and was referred to the Supreme Court of India. It was defined as the sharing of river water between the states of Punjab and Haryana.

SUTLEJ:

The ancient name of the river Sutlej is Zaradros (Ancient Greek) Shutudri or Shatadru (Sanskrit). It is the longest of the five tributaries of the Indus River that give Punjab (meaning "five rivers") its name. The Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas & Satluj are the main tributaries of the Indus. Sources on the northern slope of the Himalayas in Lake La'nga in southwestern Tibet. it flows northwest & then west-southwest through the Himalayan gorges, entering and crossing Himachal Pradesh before flowing across the Punjab plain near Nangal. It continues southwest in a wide channel & receives the Beas River (and forms 65 miles from the India-Pakistan border before entering Pakistan and flows another 220 miles to join the Chenab river west of Bahawalpur. The Sutlej River meets the Beas River at Harika in Ferozpur District before entering Pakistan. The combined rivers then form the Panjnad, the link between the Five Rivers and the Indus. The Luhri Stage-I Hydro Electric Project is located on the Satluj River in Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh.

YAMUNA:

The Yamuna River, a major tributary of the Ganga River, originates from the Yamunotri Glacier near the Bandarpoonch Peaks of the Mussoorie Range in the lower Himalayas at an altitude of about 6,387 meters above mean sea level in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand.

It meets the Ganges at Sangam (where the Kumbh mela is held) in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh after flowing through Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana & Delhi.

Length: 1376 km

Important Dam: Lakhwar-Vyasi Dam (Uttarakhand), Tajewala Dam (Haryana) Etc.

Important Tributaries: Chambal, Sindh, Betwa, and Ken.

BACKGROUND:

• 1960: The dispute can be traced back to the Indus Water Treaty between India & Pakistan, which allowed the earlier "free and unrestricted use" of the Ravi, Beas & Sutlej.
• 1966: The creation of Haryana from the Old(undivided) Punjab brought the issue of giving Haryana its share of river waters. In order for Haryana to get its share of the waters of the Sutlej Na its tributary Beas, a canal connecting the Sutlej with Yamuna (SYL Canal) was planned. Punjab has refused to share the waters with Haryana, saying it is against the riparian principle, which dictates that water in a river belongs only to the state and the country or to the states and countries through which the river flows.

• 1981: The two states mutually agreed to redistribute the water.
• 1982: Construction of 214 km SYL started at Kapoori village in Punjab. Agitations, protests & assassinations were carried out to protect against the creation of an environment of terrorism in the state and to raise the issue of national security.
• 1985: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then the Head of the Akali Dal Sant signed an agreement agreeing to set up a new tribunal to adjudicate the water.
• 1987: The tribunal recommended increasing the shares of Punjab & Haryana to 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF.

• 1996: Haryana moved the Supreme Court (SC) to seek directions to Punjab to complete work on the SYL.
• 2002-2004: SC ordered Punjab to complete the work in its territory.
• 2004: Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, ending water-sharing agreements, jeopardizing the construction of SYL in Punjab.
• 2016: The SC opened a hearing on a presidential reference (Article 143) to decide the legality of the 2004 law, saying Punjab had backtracked on its promise to share river waters. The law was therefore declared constitutionally invalid.
• 2020: The SC directed the Chief Ministers of the two states to negotiate and settle the SYL canal issue at the highest political level mediated by the Centre. Punjab has asked the tribunal for a fresh time-bound assessment of water availability. Punjab believes that till date there has been no judicial or scientific assessment of river waters in the state. The availability of Ravi-Beas water has also declined from an estimated 17.17 MAF in 1981 to 13.38 MAF in 2013. All this would be ascertained by the new tribunal.

WHY IN NEWS? 

• Recently, the Haryana Vidhan Sabha has passed a resolution completion of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal.
• The canal, once completed, will enable sharing of the waters of the rivers, Ravi and Beas between Haryana & Punjab.
• The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal is a proposed 214-kilometer-long-canal connecting Sutlej & Yamuna rivers.
• Water resources are under the State  List, while the Parliament has the power to make laws regarding inter-state rivers under the Union List.

THE ARGUMENT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA:

PUNJAB:

• Many areas in Punjab may go dry after 2029, and the state is already over-exploiting its groundwater for irrigation purposes as it fills the Centre's granaries with Rs. 70,000 crore worth of wheat and rice every year.
• Water in around 79% of the state's area is overutilized and in such a situation, according to the government, sharing water with any other state is impossible.

HARYANA:

• It says that provision of irrigation is challenging for the state and drinking water has been a problem in southern parts of Haryana, where groundwater has been depleted up to 3,700 feet.
• Haryana invokes its contribution to the central food fund and claims that it is being denied its rightful share of water as assessed by the tribunal.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• Water disputes can be resolved or balanced by the establishment of a permanent tribunal with appellate jurisdiction of a Supreme Court established over the decision of the tribunal.
• The immediate aim of any constitutional government should be to amend Article 262 (Adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-state-rivers or river valleys) and to amend the Inter-State Water Disputes Act and implement it as the same levels.

"A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure."