Punjab will burn if SYL canal is built, look at issue from national perspective: Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said that there is a need to look at the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue from a national security perspective and that Punjab will burn if a decision is taken to go ahead with the link canal.

Singh made these remarks during a meeting via video-conferencing with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on SYL canal issue.

"You have to look at the issue from the national security perspective. If you decide to go ahead with SYL, Punjab will burn and it will become a national problem, with Haryana and Rajasthan also suffering the impact," Singh said.

A Punjab government release said Singh told the meeting that after division of Punjab in 1966 all assets were shared on 60:40 basis except water.

Punjab had a right to Yamuna water, in which it did not get a share at the time of 60:40 division of assets with Haryana during the state's division in 1966, the Chief Minister said, even as he expressed his willingness to sit across the table with his Haryana counterpart ML Khattar to discuss the "emotive" issue.