Everyone will have to abide by SC decision on SYL: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said everyone will have to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court on the SYL issue, whether it is Haryana or Punjab.

"Everyone will have to abide by the Supreme Court's decision on SYL," he told reporters here.

He was asked about the SYL Canal issue which is being used as a major poll plank by various political parties in Punjab ahead of the next year's assembly elections in the neighbouring state.

When asked about Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh's declaration that Congress MLAs in Punjab will resign en masse in case of an adverse verdict for Punjab in the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Khattar said no one needs to make any sacrifice as the decision of the highest court in the country would have to be accepted by all.

He also informed that the present state government had pursued the issue of Presidential reference on Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 for early hearing in the Supreme Court which was pending for the last 12 years and now it is on regular hearing in the apex Court.

To a question concerning separate high court for Haryana, he said the government has demanded it at several fora including Union Law Ministry and the Supreme Court.

It's a process which is on, he added.

On allegations by Opposition INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala that his government was wasting crores of rupees in the name of reviving mythical Saraswati river while in reality water from tubewells was being used to fill the river's course, he said the river was an issue of faith and even today it has 150-km-long course in revenue records.

Efforts are being made to make the river functional. Three dams are being erected at Adi Badri, Lohgarh and Haripur to store water and make it flow in this sacred river, Khattar said.

He said that it would not be the first instance to connect the rivers.

 Khattar said that it has a budget of only Rs five crore out of which only a few lakh rupees have been spent.

Responding to allegations leveled by the INLD on implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, Khattar said it has been implemented in the state in a transparent manner.

He said from the time Haryana was carved out as a separate state, the previous governments have given a total compensation of Rs 1100 to Rs 1200 crore whereas the present state government has given a total compensation of Rs 2200 to 2300 crore to farmers during over one-and-a-half years.