Chandigarh October 14 -Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said Punjab had an inalienable and exclusive right over its river waters as per the nationally and internationally accepted Riparian Principle and that chief minister Bhagwant Mann should have stressed this instead of awarding Haryana the status of an equal partner and initiating negotiations on the SYL canal with his Haryana counterpart.
In a statement here, the SAD President said “it is shocking that Bhagwant Mann has fallen into the trap laid by Haryana by initiating talks to check the availability of water”. He said this was done despite the fact that Haryana did not have any locus standi in the case being a non-riparian State. “The chief minister also did not take into consideration that if Punjab and Haryana availability is less it will result in a proportionate cut in everyone’s share but not stop the flow of water into Haryana ”.
Lambasting Bhagwant Mann for presenting Punjab’s case most shabbily, Sukhbir Badal also took umbrage to the Punjab Advocate General’s claim in the chief minister’s presence that “if we have water we will consider construction of the SYL”. He said the Punjab government should immediately disassociate itself from this stand and censure the AG for making an anti-Punjab statement.
Asserting that Bhagwant Mann’s talk about measurement of water was flabbergasting, the SAD President said “the chief minister admitted in his press conference today that the land on which the SYL canal stood had been de-notified and returned to the original tillers by the previous Parkash Singh Badal government and that it was now being ploughed by the farmers”. He said when the chief minister knew that there was no canal on the ground why did he and his AG give a commitment on behalf of Punjab that the State would consider construction of the SYL canal once the present River waters were measured anew.
Cautioning Bhagwant Mann not to set the State on fire by going against the wishes of Punjabis who did not want the State to conduct any negotiations with Haryana, Badal said “it seems the chief minister is under pressure of AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal who is insisting that Punjab river waters be released to Haryana and Delhi. Kejriwal has reopened the SYL issue and also given hope to Haryana by stating that the River waters of Punjab should be shared with it and now it seems Bhagwant Mann is acting as per this script”. He said Punjabis however would not forgive Mann for diluting Punjab’s stand on SYL.
Referring to Bhagwant Mann’s reference to the Supreme Court advice regarding Punjab and Haryana resolving the issue through mutual consultations , the SAD president said the CM should have known how Parkash Singh Badal had reacted as CM to the SC directive to Punjab to construct SYL. “Badal categorically refused to build the SYL and declared that he was willing to be hanged for defying SC orders against Punjab as the river waters are our lifeline and Punjab cannot be forced to part with its riparian rights over its waters”.
Badal said that when Bhagwant Mann was not in power he used to talk big saying there was no question of discussing Punjab river waters issue with Haryana. “So he can’t be innocent and ignorant of the issue. He has simply surrendered his will to Kejrival and that is why he could not refuse to meet Manohar Lal Khattar.
