Akali Dal chief warns Punjab CM against negotiating on river water
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Oct, 2022 04:13 PM
Chandigarh, Oct 11 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday warned Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann against reducing Punjab's river waters to a negotiable issue between Punjab and Haryana.
In a statement here, the SAD President said it was shocking that the Chief Minister had not made the Punjab government's stand clear before holding a meeting with his Haryana counterpart on this issue.
He said Punjab had an exclusive right over its river waters and Haryana being a non-Riparian state had no locus standi in the matter. "There is nothing to discuss here with Haryana."
Badal's assertions come in the wake of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar saying that he will be meeting his Punjab counterpart regarding the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal on October 14 in Chandigarh.
Asserting that no country could go against the internationally accepted principle of Riparian rights, Badal said "if non-Riparian Haryana is allowed to demand a share in Punjab's river waters, what can stop Tamil Nadu or Bengal or Kerala, all non-Riparian states with respect to the Ravi, the Satluj and the Beas rivers from demanding the same. Similarly if the same used stick is applied what stops Punjab from demanding waters from the Godavari or the Ganges".
Badal also said the issue of the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal had been closed in 2016 when the Parkash Singh Badal government denotified the land which had been taken for establishment of the SYL and handed it back to its original owners free of cost.
"Parts of the canal had been even been ploughed and the canal does not exist in its old state in Punjab."
Asking the Chief Minister to clear the air, Badal said there were deep misgivings in the minds of Punjabis that the AAP government was in the process of handing over their river waters to Haryana and Delhi.
He said during a recent visit to Haryana, Mann had even endorsed this proposal which was made by AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal in his presence.
"Earlier also the AAP government in Delhi has submitted identical affidavits along with Haryana in the apex court and made its anti-Punjab position clear. But despite all this the Chief Minister has neither clarified the state's stand nor categorically told Punjabis that he would not let a drop of water pass to Haryana from Punjab".
Asserting that the entire state would turn into a desert and that its agri economy would be doomed in case the AAP government in Punjab succumbed to pressure from its high command to release water to Haryana, Badal said SAD was ready to make any sacrifice to secure the river water rights of Punjab.
"We have made this clear to the erstwhile Central governments as well as courts. We will not allow AAP to sell off the state's River water rights to please its high command," he added.
The two-time chief minister of Punjab had fought the assembly elections in the state earlier this year in alliance with the BJP as well as Akali Dal (Sanyukt). His party - Punjab Lok Congress - though had failed to get even a single seat during the assembly elections.
During deliberations, the Chief Minister envisaged opportunities for mutual collaboration in business and solutions. He said that the alliance could provide on-field handholding to Punjab farmers in best practices of crop management.
Balkaur Singh, whose son was shot dead in daylight on May 29 close to his Moosa village in Punjab on May 28, had complained of uneasiness on Thursday night following which he was admitted to a private hospital in Patiala from where he was shifted to the PGIMER here.
Majithia told the media here that this was also necessary because the AAP government had neither made the FIR registered in this case public even after 24 hours, nor taken any action against any BJP leader or middlemen involved.
The matter came to the fore after the victim narrated the ordeal to her parents who rescued her and later approached the Women police station at Gurugram's Sector-51 and registered a case against the accused on Wednesday. The victim told the police that she had met Pooja at a Gurugram mall a month ago. Pooja had offered her a job at a doctor's clinic.
The local people and Bishal's family members claimed that he was found with multiple wounds on Wednesday. It is alleged that Bishal was killed for not agreeing to convert to Christianity in order to marry his tribal girlfriend. Though the police are yet to confirm whether the youth was killed or committed suicide, they have arrested five people in connection with the case.
