The Satluj-Yamuna Link canal saga: Why Punjab won’t yield, and Haryana can’t let go

The SYL is more than a canal. It is a painful political memory of uneven water pacts by the Centre since 1955, when it allocated Rajasthan, a non-riparian state, 8 MAF, leaving undivided Punjab with 7.2 MAF of the Ravi-Beas waters. (File photo) 6 min readChandigarhAug 29, 2026 12:18 PM IST First published on: Aug 29, 2026 at 07:00 AM IST “Once the heart opens, the door also opens.” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant reportedly made this remark recently while hearing the ongoing 30-year-old Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case, after Attorney General R Venkataramani told the three-member Bench that Punjab and Haryana “speak in a joint voice … They have opened their heart much more than what they were talking last time”. The language of progress is familiar in Haryana’s 1996 suit seeking completion of the SYL canal. But coming just months before the Punjab Assembly elections early next year, the question is whether these cordial statements represent a genuine shift or another turn of phrase.