(Tribune)
Responding to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s call for marathon discussions to resolve the SYL issue, Punjab and Haryana on Friday agreed to try and find a collective solution to the dispute through dialogue.The Home Minister’s plea came after Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, hosting the 28th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) here, pushed for a consensus solution of the SYL dispute, while calling for coordination by the states concerned with the Centre to find a feasible solution for optimal utilisation of river waters based on internationally accepted riparian principles.
Agreeing to Amarinder’s suggestion of talks to resolve the issue, the Home Minister, while chairing the meeting, said efforts should first be made to find a solution through marathon meetings, failing which the matter should be left to the courts to decide.He suggested that the chief ministers and chief secretaries of both the states should sit and discuss the issue threadbare in order to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. The Punjab Chief Minister suggested that the Union Water Resource Ministry convene a meeting of the CMs and CSes at the earliest to take it forward.
