Chandigarh, Oct 5 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday appealed to Punjabis to 'gherao' Central teams wishing to conduct a survey of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal land in the state, even as it asserted that it was ready for any sacrifice but would not allow the canal to come up in Punjab.
Senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia told the media here that they asked both the AAP government and the state unit of the BJP to clarify their stand on the proposed survey which was to be conducted by the Central government.
He condemned both Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar for maintaining a silence on such an important issue which concerned the very future of Punjab and its farmers.
He also asked the Punjab BJP chief to officially tell the Central government to desist from conducting any survey to identify land for the SYL.
Asserting that there was no need for any survey, Majithia said “former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has returned more than 4,500 acres of land acquired for the SYL canal back to the 21,000 original owners free of cost”.
He said similarly "there is no water to give with 109 out of 128 blocks in the state turning into dark zones due to severe depletion of groundwater".
Majithia also launched a frontal attack on Chief Minister Mann, alleging that he, under a sinister conspiracy, deliberately weakened Punjab’s case on the SYL canal issue in the Supreme Court.
"Besides taking the Advocate General’s resignation on a day when Punjab needed to defend its case resolutely, the government also agreed that it did not have any objection to constructing the SYL canal. It is on record to have blamed the Opposition as well as return of the land on which the canal stood back to farmers by former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as the reasons for its inability to construct the canal."
He also accused the Chief Minister of releasing excess water to Rajasthan to improve AAP’s political fortunes in forthcoming Assembly elections in the state. "All this proves that the chief minister is ready to surrender Punjab’s river waters to neighbouring states."
