CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asserted chief minister Bhagwant Mann was acting like a modern day Darbara Singh (former Congress chief minister) and accused him of compromising the River water rights of Punjab to save his chair.
Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leader Parambans Singh Romana said just like former chief minister Darbara Singh had compromised Punjab’s River water rights at the instance of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, present day chief minister – Bhagwant Mann was ready to give away the State’s waters to Haryana on the directions of his boss Arvind Kejriwal.
Asking the chief minister why he did not utter one line which Punjabis wanted to hear – that the State did not have not have one drop of water to spare and that no water would be allowed to flow to Haryana, Mr Parambans Romana said “this itself makes it clear that the AAP government in Punjab is getting ready to give away our River waters to Haryana”. He said the chief minister had put the seal on this intention by stating that “first let us decide on the water which is to be given, and then we will build the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal”.
Making it clear that the SAD would not allow this conspiracy to succeed, the SAD leader said “we will not let even one drop of water from Punjab flow into Haryana”. He said SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had also made this clear by announcing the next SAD government would remove historic injustices done to the State by stopping flow of water into the Rajasthan canal and divert it to the fields of Punjab.
Mr Romana also made it clear that there was only one principle for resolving the River water dispute between Punjab and Haryana and that was the Riparian Principle. He said as per this Principle Punjab was the sole owner of all River waters flowing in it. “This same Principle formed the basis for refusing Narmada river water to Rajasthan by a Tribunal. There cannot be two laws in the same country”, he added.