CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today made it clear that it would not tolerate loot of the water resources of Punjab and asserted that the latest move to allocate an additional 8500 cusecs of water to Haryana was a blow to federalism and should be revoked immediately.
Senior SAD leaders Balwinder Singh Bhundar and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, who attended the All Party meeting on water sharing, said Punjab had been discriminated against earlier with the Riparian Principle being given the go by to distribute River waters to neighbouring States arbitrarily. “Now the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has allocated additional water to Haryana above and over its quota without taking clearance from the Punjab government. Even officers of BBMB are being changed to facilitate this move”.
Asserting that this was against the essence of federalism, the SAD leaders said “we have led morchas to ensure our River water rights are not snatched. During the previous SAD government land on which the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal stand was returned to farmers. We are committed to safeguard the interests of farmers and will not allow even one drop of extra water to flow to Haryana”.
The SAD leaders assured the Punjab government that the SAD would support its efforts to safeguard the River waters of the State. “We are committed to ensuring justice for Punjab. This can be through negotiation or seeking legal recourse. The centre should also ensure that justice is done to Punjab”.
The SAD leaders also stressed the need to challenge the reconstitution of the BBMB by the central government. They said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) should have challenged the reconstitution of the BBMB in court. Not doing so has resulted in the present injustice which has been meted out to Punjab. They also condemned the manner in which Punjab officers in BBMB were being transferred out of important posts to influence decisions against the State.
Both Mr Bhundar and Dr Cheema also called for a comprehensive discussion with the centre on all contentious issues of the State including the status of Chandigarh, discrimination against Punjab vis and vis postings in Chandigarh and non implementation of Punjabi.