Slamming both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for hobnobbing with each other to snatch legitimate share of Punjab’s water, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday exhorted the people to foil the nefarious designs of these parties to ruin the State. Badal, addressing the gathering during a State level function to celebrate Christmas Day, said that both AAP and Congress were conniving with each other to deprive Punjabis of every single drop of water.
“It is on record that the Congress and AAP are both sworn enemies of the State, who have joined hands to snatch the water of State by constructing SYl in the State thereby robbing the State of its legitimate share of river water. It is a fact that as per universally accepted Riparian principle of water sharing, Punjab is the only rightful owner of river waters of the State,” he said.
However, Badal said that the Congress has divested Punjab of its rights by giving water to Rajasthan, Haryana and other states adding that now AAP, too, has joined the Congress to rob the waters of state.
He reiterated that Punjab neither has spare water to share with anyone, nor any need for the construction of Satluj Yamuna link (SYl) canal and nobody would be allowed to construct this canal in future.
“By conferring the ownership rights of the land acquired for SYl canal to its original owners, the SAD-BJP alliance Government has buried this issue forever,” he said. Also criticising the Congress party for misleading poor and downtrodden sections of the society in order to fulfil its vested political interests, Badal said that instead of formulating policies for development of weaker sections of society, the Congress has always deceived them.
Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to ensure the progress and development of the Christian community, Badal said that the state government would leave no stone unturned. “Punjab Government has earmarked a budget of `100 crore for providing suitable land for burial ground required by the community across the state,” he said.