Chandigarh, Oct 5 (PTI) Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday claimed that the SYL canal matter is stuck till date due to the "negative attitude" of the state BJP and the BJP-JJP government.

Hooda said nothing has happened despite a clear verdict by the apex court in 2017. Instead of doing politics on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, the BJP-JJP coalition should try to understand the interests of the state, he added.

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"If the government takes any step on the issue, then Congress will rise above politics and stand with the government. But if the government continues to adopt this wavering attitude, then Congress will oppose it and will raise its voice to defend the interests of the state," Hooda said in a statement here.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Haryana on the SYL canal issue in February 2017 itself. After this, the Supreme Court gave clear instructions to Punjab, Haryana and the central government in July 2020. After the court's decision, all the parties of Haryana also met the President, he said.

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"At the same time, Congress had also suggested the Haryana state government to seek a meeting on SYL issue with the Prime Minister with an all-party delegation. The government had asked for time from the Prime Minister, but till date nothing like this has happened," the former chief minister said.

He said the Congress has repeatedly said that the Punjab government is disregarding the decision of the Supreme Court, "but the Haryana government kept wasting time by holding inconclusive meetings".

Reacting to the fresh observations made by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Hooda said, "Now the apex court has once again reiterated its decision."

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to survey the portion of land in Punjab allocated for the construction of a part of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

All political parties in Punjab asserted that the state does not have a single drop of additional water to share with any other state, though political outfits in Haryana welcomed the apex court directions.

"But surprisingly, ignoring the issue of taking Haryana's rightful share of water, the Chief Minister is considering it only as a matter of canal construction," Hooda said.

"SYL water is the right of Haryana and it is very important for the agriculture of the state. The government should take this issue seriously. Irrigation will be possible on more than 10 lakh acres of land in the state when this water becomes available for the state," Hooda said.

While underscoring the critical significance of the SYL canal for Haryana, Chief Minister Khattar, in a statement, said the construction of SYL is the rightful entitlement of people of Haryana.

Khattar had also said he hoped that the Punjab Government would immediately follow the court's orders.

Hooda said Haryana Congress has fought for the rights of the state.

"The then Congress government strongly presented Haryana's case in the court, due to which the court's decision came in favour of the state, but the BJP government did not take any steps to implement it," he claimed.

"There is often a debate between different political parties in the state as to how much work was done to build SYL under which party's government, but BJP is the only government in the history of Haryana, in whose term the SYL canal built in Punjab was closed, instead of moving forward. The role of BJP and BJP-JJP government has been negative in providing Haryana its rightful water till now," he said.

Hooda said that there are three major sources of water for irrigation in Haryana.

"First from Yamuna, second from Bhakra whose entire water was to come from SYL and third from underground water.

"Due to non-availability of SYL water, underground water is being over-exploited and the water level has gone down rapidly. Dadupur-Nalvi canal was constructed during the Congress government only to recharge the groundwater level, but it is unfortunate that the BJP government shelved it," he said.

"During the Congress government, Hansi-Butana canal was built, through which the water of Bhakra was to be supplied to Haryana. But the BJP government did not even make any effort to bring water into it. Similarly, many years ago the Supreme Court had given a decision in favour of Haryana on SYL. Still the state government has been sitting idle," he alleged.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)