Punjab CM’s Bold Stand: No Water to Spare, Demands Indus Share and YSL Canal!

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann took a defiant stance at a Shram Shakti Bhawan meeting, declaring that Punjab has no surplus water to share with other states and demanding a rightful share of Indus waters. With the state’s groundwater critically depleted and rivers like the Sutlej drying up, Mann proposed a radical shift from the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal to a Yamuna-Satluj Link (YSL) canal to address Punjab’s irrigation crisis.

Mann emphasized that Punjab, a key contributor to India’s food security, faces a dire water situation, with 76.5% of its blocks overexploited. He argued that international norms necessitate a reassessment of Punjab’s water availability, as the state’s scant resources are already stretched thin for farmers. “Not a single drop of water can be shared,” Mann asserted, highlighting the emotional weight of the SYL issue, which could spark law-and-order challenges if pursued.

The recent suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, following the Pahalgam terror attack, opens new possibilities for utilizing waters from the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. Mann urged prioritizing Punjab for these waters, proposing new storage dams upstream of Bhakra and Pong Dams in Himachal Pradesh to enhance regulation and storage. He also revived the Sharda-Yamuna Link project to transfer surplus Sharda water to the Yamuna, potentially meeting Haryana’s needs and Delhi’s drinking water demands while supplying Rajasthan.

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Mann suggested diverting Chenab water to the Beas via the Rohtang tunnel, eliminating the need for the SYL canal, which lacks land availability in Punjab. He noted that Punjab was allocated only 14.22 MAF (40%) of the 34.34 MAF from the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers, while non-riparian states like Haryana, Delhi, and Rajasthan received 60%. With the 1994 MoU on Yamuna water allocation—covering Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan—due for review in 2025, Mann demanded Punjab’s inclusion as a partner state, claiming 60% of surplus Yamuna waters.

The Chief Minister called for pausing SYL-related proceedings until the Ravi-Beas tribunal’s decision and reconceiving the project as a YSL canal to channel Yamuna and Ganga waters to Punjab via the Sutlej. This, he argued, would address Punjab’s critical water needs while resolving the decades-long dispute with Haryana, which has completed its 92-km portion of the 214-km SYL canal.

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