CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) not to indulge in theatrics on the extremely sensitive issue of Punjab’s River waters and instead tell Punjabis why the AAP government had sold off the interests of the State by releasing 4, 000 cusecs of water to Haryana one month back and failed to ward off release of another 8, 500 cusecs now.
In a statement here, the SAD president said it was highly condemnable that instead of addressing the issue of desertification of Punjab and the blow to its farm economy, AAP was indulging in cheap ‘dharnas’ to deflect attention from the sellout of the State’s River waters by the chief minister. “Not only did Bhagwant Mann admit in writing that Punjab had started releasing 4, 000 cusecs of additional water to Haryana since the last one month, but also admitted that the Haryana chief minister had called him on April 23 and requested for the release of another 8, 000 cusecs of water.
Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini has given a statement on record that Bhagwant Mann agreed to this demand. Instead of indulging in dramas now, Mann should tell on whose direction and permission he had sold off the River waters of Punjab to Haryana? Punjabis never gave him permission to do so”, Mr Sukhbir Badal added.
Asserting that the SAD would not allow the conspiracy by the neighbouring States and the central government to rob Punjab of its River waters by unilaterally forcing the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to release an additional 8, 500 cusecs of water to Haryana to succeed, Mr Badal said “this order should be revoked immediately as it has been given without taking the approval of the Punjab government as per the BBMB manual”.
The SAD president also demanded the immediate restoration of Punjab’s representative as the Member, Power of BBMB, saying BBMB had been unfairly reconstituted two years back and that Punjab had been discriminated against in the process of doing so.
Mr Badal made it clear that the SAD would not allow the diabolic conspiracy to rob Punjab of its River waters to succeed at any cost.
“If even a drop of additional water which is above the quota fixed for Haryana leaves the State we will launch a mass agitation to protect the water rights of the State. We will fight to the last breath but will never compromise our water rights”.
The SAD president, while also appealing to the central government to reconstitute the BBMB and give Punjab appropriate representation in its management, also condemned the Congress party for working against the interests of the State. “The manner in which the Haryana Congress has asked the Prime Minister to intervene and even revoke Article 257 and instruct the Punjab government to release additional water to Haryana is not in the interest of federalism and is also against the Riparian Principle”.
He also questioned why the Punjab Congress leadership was quiet on this issue and had not condemned the Haryana Congress for its incendiary statements till now.
Badal made it clear that Punjab did not have any water to give and that the SAD would safeguard the rights of farmers of the State who were already reeling from water shortages for irrigation needs.
“Punjab is staring at a crisis with water levels in the Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams being lower than last year’s levels. Any attempt to lower them further by releasing additional water to Haryana over and above its quota could spell catastrophe for Punjab”, he added.