Declaring that not a drop of Punjab’s river waters would be allowed to flow out of the State, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday asked the President of India to ignore the Supreme Court’s advice as it did not answer any of the issues raised by the State.
The party’s core committee, which met on Tuesday morning, declared its firm resolve not to allow the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal as that will deprive Punjab of its legitimate claim on the waters of the rivers that flow through it.
“Punjab neither has a drop of water to spare for any other State, nor is there any legal or constitutional provision by which it can be deprived of its right over the waters of rivers that flow through it, nor will even a single drop of water belonging to Punjab be allowed to be taken out of the State,” the party observed.
The core panel maintained, “We stand by the Constitution and the Constitution guarantees us absolute and exclusive right over the waters of rivers that flow through it. If Punjab cannot get water from Ravi and Beas, will it get it from Brahmaputra and Tung BhadraIJ”
The core committee also passed a resolution stating that the SYl “is neither necessary, nor feasible, nor is there a single drop of spare water available to flow through it, nor will it be allowed to be built”.
“Punjab itself faces the horrific prospect of turning into a desert because of acute water scarcity and shocking pace at which the sub soil water level is falling…Besides, no State through which a river does not flow can be given water forcibly,” read the resolution.
Giving details of the Core Committee meeting proceedings, party’s general secretary and chief spokesperson Harcharan Bains said that the party is concerned and surprised over the advice of the Supreme Court to the President “which completely overlooks the purpose for which the President had sought the apex court’s opinion”.
The Core Committee said that the Supreme Court’s advice, does not answer of the four issues addressed to it by the President of India.
The first of these issues was whether the Termination of Agreements Act 2004 was illegal and unconstitutional. The Apex court did not answer that, he said. The Core Committee found that the Apex Court’s observation that Punjab should first have sought the setting up of a Tribunal as “most intriguing” because a plea from Punjab requesting precisely the setting up of such a Tribunal is already lying before the SC.
“Instead of asking Punjab to make such a demand, the Court should have decided that petition,” said Bains.
Bains said the Core Committee also passed a resolution in which it held former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi, Congress chief ministers of Punjab — Darbara Singh, Giani Zail apart from Capt Amarinder Singh — squarely responsible for the loot of the State.
“Of these, Capt Amarinder Singh has been the principal villain as it was he who invited Mrs Gandhi to Kapuri to start the digging for the SYl canal,” said the Core Committee Resolution.