Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 32nd meeting of the North Zone Council in Faridabad, Monday, November 17, 2025. | Photo credit: PTI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday (Nov 17, 2025) said the culprits of the November 10 Delhi blast would be brought before the land justice and given the strictest possible punishment.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, eliminating terrorism from its roots is our common commitment,” Mr Shah said in Faridabad, Haryana while presiding over the 32nd meeting of the North Zonal Council (NZC).
The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers Nayab Singh Saini (Haryana), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh), Bhajan Lal Sharma (Rajasthan), Omar Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir) and Rekha Gupta (Delhi); Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh Gulab Chand Kataria; and Governors Manoj Sinha (Jammu and Kashmir), Vinai Kumar Saxena (Delhi) and Kavinder Gupta (Ladakh) among others.
Mr. Shah said that zonal councils are extremely important for policy dialogue, cooperation, coordination and synergy. In the meeting, Himachal Pradesh requested the Center to ensure Himachal’s legitimate right to the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
Haryana has raised the issue of non-construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, the focal point of the water-sharing dispute between Haryana and Punjab. Meanwhile, Punjab reasserted its long-standing claims on several key issues, including Chandigarh, Punjab University and sharing of river waters, and argued for a true federal structure in the country.
Defending Himachal Pradesh’s legitimate right to a 7.19% share in Chandigarh’s land and property, Mr. Sukhu said the demand complied with the mandate under the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966. He also sought the release of outstanding dues from the Bhakra Beas Board of Management (BBMB) as per the decision of the Permanent Member of the Himal High Court and the appointment of a member of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Saini said proper arrangements must be made to supply each state with its rightful share of water. “Haryana is constantly giving Delhi more water than its own share. However, due to non-construction of SYL canal, Haryana is not getting its full share of water from Punjab. Once Haryana gets its rightful share of water through SYL, Rajasthan will also get its due share,” Mr. Saini said.
Mr. Mann said that federalism remains one of the fundamental pillars of our constitution, but unfortunately in the last 75 years there has been a trend towards centralization of power. Demanding that Chandigarh be handed over to Punjab, Mr Mann said that after the reorganization of the state, the Indira Gandhi Agreement of 1970 had specifically stipulated that “the whole of the Chandigarh master project area would go to Punjab, which was a clear commitment of the central government.”
Mr. Mann reiterated, “Punjab has no surplus water to spare through SYL.”
Published – 17 Nov 2025 22:51 IST
