SUTLEJ YAMUNA RIVER WATER DISPUTE

• Recently, the Haryana Vidhan Sabha has passed a resolution seeking 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 and Punjab.
• The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal is a proposed 214-kilometre-long canal connecting Sutlej and 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 dispute can be traced back to the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan, allowing the former ‘free and unrestricted use’ of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
• Creation of Haryana from the old (undivided) Punjab presented the problem of giving Haryana its share of river waters.
• For Haryana to get its share of the waters of the Sutlej and its tributary Beas, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna was planned (SYL Canal).
• Punjab refused to share waters with Haryana stating it was against the riparian principle which dictates that the water of a river belongs only to the State and country or States and countries through which the river in question flows.
• Both states mutually agreed for the re-allocation of water.
• Construction of 214-km SYL was launched in Kapoori village, Punjab.
• Agitations, protests and assassinations were carried out in protest creating the environment of terrorism in the state and making the issue of national security.
• Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Akali Dal chief Sant signed an accord agreeing for a new tribunal to assess the water.
• The Eradi Tribunal headed by Supreme Court Judge V Balakrishna Eradi was set up to reassess availability and sharing of water.
• In 1987, the tribunal recommended an increase in the shares of Punjab and Haryana to 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF, respectively.
• Haryana moved the Supreme Court (SC) seeking directions to Punjab to complete the work on the SYL.
• SC directed Punjab to complete the work in its territory.
• Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, terminating its water-sharing agreements and thus jeopardising the construction of SYL in Punjab.
• SC started hearings into a presidential reference (Article 143) to decide on the legality of the 2004 Act and declared that Punjab backed out of its promise to share the waters of rivers. Thus, the act was termed constitutionally invalid.

Highlights about Sutlej and Yamuna River

• The ancient name of Sutlej River is Zaradros (Ancient Greek) Shutudri or Shatadru (Sanskrit).
• It is the longest of the five tributaries of the Indus River that give the Punjab (meaning “Five Rivers”) its name.
• Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Satluj are main tributaries of Indus.
• It rises on the north slope of the Himalayas in Lake La’nga in southwestern Tibet.
• Flowing northwestward and then west-southwestward through Himalayan gorges, it enters and crosses Himachal Pradesh before beginning its flow through the Punjab plain near Nangal.
• Continuing southwestward in a broad channel, it receives the Beas River (and forms 65 miles of the India-Pakistan border before entering Pakistan and flowing another 220 miles to join the Chenab River west of Bahawalpur.
• Sutlej River meets the Beas River in Harike in the Ferozpur district before entering Pakistan.
• The combined rivers then form the Panjnad, the link between the Five Rivers and the Indus.
• Luhri Stage-I Hydro Electric Project is located on River Satluj in Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh.

Way Forward

• The water disputes can be solved or balanced by having a permanent tribunal established with appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court established over the tribunal’s decision.
• The immediate target of any Constitutional Government should be amendment to Article 262 (Adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter State rivers or river valleys) and amendment to Inter-State Water Disputes Act and its implementation at the equal note.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT