-Rajesh Tyagi & Rajinder Kumar/ 8.1.2017
On the eve of the Assembly polls in Punjab, the
specter of interstate water dispute, popularly known as SYL (Sutlej
Yamuna Link) Dispute, is summoned to life again.
The long drawn SYL water dispute emerges out of the rival
claims of the adjoining twin states of Punjab and Haryana, over water sharing
from River Sutlej and its tributary rivers Ravi and Beas, flowing inside
Punjab. Pursuant to a 50 years old water sharing agreement between the two
states, Sutlej was to be linked to river Yamuna in Haryana, through 214 kms
long water channel, 122 kms inside Punjab and 92 kms in Haryana, cutting
through the two states. Almost complete otherwise, the construction of a small
part of the channel inside Punjab, remains for decades, mired into the cobweb of
dirty political maneuvers of bourgeois parties and their respective leaders.
