Chandigarh:- Holding Congress and the Akali leadership responsible for the “continued loot of water resources” of Punjab since 1955, radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa today hit out at both the parties for allegedly playing politics over the issue.
“This SYL issue has far reaching effects on the lives of the people and economy of the state,” Dal Khalsa said here.
The outfit asked the legislators of Congress and Akali-BJP coalition to correct the historical wrongs of their elders by unanimously declaring all pacts and deals that allows the flow of waters to non-riparian states as null and void in the Assembly session slated for tomorrow.
Referring to the “glib talks” of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the people of Punjab, particularly the agriculture community was worried that despite the tall claims of all politicians, more than 55 percent (19 out of 35 MAF) of Punjab’s river waters flows to other non-riparian states.
He said the studied silence of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal leaves no one in doubt about his deceitful attitude.
Singh said the question was not of allocation but of ownership, which the executive and judiciary have deliberately ignored all along.
Punjab is the rightful owner of its natural resources and no government or court could divert or give its waters to others forcibly or subverting the law and riparian principles, he said.
Slamming the country’s Prime Ministers of the past decades for allegedly playing petty politics and muddling the issue irreparably, Singh said even the judiciary and the various tribunals, with all their much-touted activism have been erratic and partial in their approach.
The first practical action to effectively stop the construction of the SYL canal was taken up by Babbar Khalsa militants in 1990 followed by the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act by the state Assembly led by the Amarinder Singh government in 2004, he said.
Now it’s the turn of the Akali-BJP government led by Parkash Singh Badal to stop the flow of waters to non-riparian states and demand royalty from them for using Punjab’s waters till date, he added.
PTI
