Expressing strong displeasure over non-inclusion of Punjab in the Central Government-initiated ‘Atal Bhu Jal Yojna’, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday said that it was a discriminatory act on the part of the Union Government.
AAP’s Punjab state kisan wing president and Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that it was pertinent to mention that the Centre had announced the launch of Atal Bhu-Jal Yojana recently with a view to improve status of underground water in seven states, including Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore, while Punjab was excluded from the list.
Sandhwan said that by not including Punjab, the largest contributor to the country’s grain reserves, in the much-hyped scheme indicated step-motherly treatment on the part of the Union Government.
AAP leader was critical of the Badal couple — Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, SAD president and Ferozepur MP Sukhbir Badal — for betraying the interests of Punjab and the Punjabis, simply to protect the ministerial berth of Badal ‘bahu’ (daughter-in-law) by bartering interests of the state to keep their unholy alliance with the saffron party going.
“Only 27 percent of the total area in Punjab got canal water, a major share of which had already been polluted due to industrial wastes, while 73 percent of the area was irrigated with the ground water reserve,” he said. Out of the 138 blocks in the state, water had gone down to an alarming level in 110 blocks, which had been identified as critical zones in the Government reports, he added.