E-Paper
Govt not following SYL case to its root cause: Bains
Bains said if the state government follows up the matter to its root then it can be resolved but government is politicising the issue
At a time when chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh has urged the Union government to be cautious about the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue as it has potential to disturb the nation’s security, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) president and MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains has accused the Congress and SAD-BJP alliance of not following the case to its root cause and fooling residents of the state.
During a press meet organised at his residence in Kot Mangal Singh area on Wednesday, Bains demanded that the CM call a session of the Vidhan Sabha and make changes in the The Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004. “A pending case in the Supreme Court where the Punjab government challenged Sections 78 and 79 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, should be followed properly to save the water of Punjab,” he said.
“Rather than stopping Haryana from claiming its right on the waters of Punjab, the government is saying they do not have water for Haryana,” he said.
Bains said if the state government follows up the matter to its root, then the matter can be resolved but government is politicising the issue. “The Captain Amarinder Singh-led government had approved The Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, but a clause was mentioned where it was stated that Punjab has no issue with the water, which was already moving out of the state at the time. That clause should be cancelled,” he said.
“Further efforts should be made to abolish the unconstitutional sections of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, which stops Punjab from having right over its water. The state government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the same in 2007, which is pending. But the government has not moved an application for hearing the case for a long time,” said Bains.
