Chandigarh, June 15: The Punjab Assembly today resolved that the state had no water to spare for Haryana and would take administrative and legal measures to safeguard the state’s interests on the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna link canal issue.

The Supreme Court had on June 4 directed the Centre to appoint its own agency “within four weeks” to start construction of the incomplete portion of the canal lying in Punjab.

The water dispute between the neighbouring states dates back to the seventies.

A resolution, urging the state government to take all measures “to safeguard the state’s interests in accordance with internationally-recognised principles of riparian/basin states and protect it from the damage likely to be caused by the recent order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court”, was endorsed by all Opposition parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP.

Opposition leader Parkash Singh Badal, however, accused Congress governments of discriminating against the state on several counts, including the sharing of river waters.

“Haryana has no right to any water from Punjab’s rivers. But each Congress government in Punjab has only bartered away the state’s interests,” he alleged.

The Akali leader said he was ready “for any sacrifice” for Punjab. “I am willing to go to any length on this issue. But I am not sure whether the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government is serious on the matter,” he said, adding that the House should reject all agreements with Haryana over the issue.

“The whole country is treating us as the villain and Haryana as the aggrieved party in the water issue, when we know what it would mean if water is allowed to be diverted from the state,” he told the Assembly.

“I will take everyone into confidence over the steps the government decides to take on the matter,” Amarinder said.

He also demanded a new tribunal to adjudicate the distribution of the river waters between the states.