Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday urged Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to urgently convene an all-party meeting in view of the Apex Court’s order directing the states of Punjab and Haryana to forge a consensus on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) by September 3, 2019.
AAP’s Punjab unit president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said that if Capt Amarinder was a wee bit sensitized about Punjab and its waters, he should immediately convene an all-party meeting. “The top-ranking water experts, legal experts and social and farmers’ representatives should also be invited to have a general perspective,” he said.
Mann said that the State should put up its point of view in a forceful way during the meeting slated for September 3, 2019, so as to stake its rightful claim on the river waters under the International Riparian Law, thereby saving Punjab from turning into a desert in the times to come.
At the same time, he assured that AAP would extend its full support on the issue surrounding water share.
Expressing his seriousness over the sensitive issue of water share, Mann reiterated that Capt Amarinder had forgotten the promise he made twice on the floor of the House to convene an urgent meeting on the issue.
“I had sought an audience with him (Capt Amarinder) on certain burning issues, including high power tariff and others, which had not been granted by far,” he said adding that The Chief Minister was accessible neither to the lawmakers and others of his own party nor to the who’s who of other political parties.