The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today urged Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to immediately dismiss Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for compromising the State’s interests while defending the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case in the Supreme Court.
A high-level SAD delegation led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the Governor here and handed over a representation to him apprising him of the manner in which the chief minister had backstabbed Punjab and Punjabis in the Supreme Court at the instance of AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal who was hell-bent on giving Punjab’s water to Haryana and even Rajasthan in direct violation of the Riparian Principle.
The SAD president also asserted that the party would not allow one drop of water to go out of Punjab. “Na Nehar Banega, na Paani hai”, he asserted while emphasizing that there was no SYL canal in the State after the land on which the canal stood was transferred back to farmers in 2016 by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Neither do we have any water to give”, he added.
Badal also disclosed that the SAD would terminate all water-sharing agreements once it assumed power in the State. “We will stop water flowing into Rajasthan. He also appealed to the Governor to recommend to the central government to bring in legislation in parliament to correct the historic injustice meted out to Punjab on the SYL canal issue and settle it once and for all on the Riparian Principle under which Punjab has an inalienable right over all water flowing in its territory.
Meanwhile, the SAD delegation which included Bikram Singh Majithia, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Dr. Sukhwinder Kumar, and Anil Joshi apprised the union government of the ground situation in Punjab and asserted that any attempt to hold forcible surveys by the central government with the intention of transporting the State’s waters to Haryana was likely to result in the eruption of a volcano of anger amongst the State peasantry which would be difficult of control. “This step will also not be conducive to peace in the sensitive border State”, it said.
The delegation also highlighted the treachery of the AAP government in the apex court in which it expressed its willingness to construct the SYL canal but for pressure from opposition parties as well as difficulties in acquiring land for the canal which had been returned back to farmers by the erstwhile SAD government. “This contention is tantamount to backstabbing farmers, “ adding “It seems the AAP government failed to argue Punjab’s case convincingly. It also failed to stress the Riparian Principle by way of which Punjab has an inalienable right over the water flowing in its territory”
The delegation also detailed how Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that Haryana and Delhi should be given water through the SYL canal and how the Delhi government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in April 2016 asserting both Haryana and Delhi should be granted their share of water from the SYL canal. “AAP has also promised to ensure water from the SYL reaches each and every corner of Haryana in case it forms the government in the State in 2024”. It also detailed the discrimination meted out to Punjab vis a vis its river waters by successive Congress governments including the unilateral grant of half of the total water of Punjab – 8 MAF to Rajasthan in 1955, grant of 3.5 MAF of water to Haryana during reorganization of the State in 1966 and allocation of Ravi-Beas water to Haryana through the SYL canal whose formal digging was initiated by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1982.
