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Wont let AAP increase Rajasthan’s river water share, says SAD chief Sukhbir
Sukhbir said chief minister Bhagwant Mann has committed to increasing the share, but his party, “We will not allow one extra drop of water to be released to Rajasthan even if we have to give up our life to prevent this gross injustice.”
Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would not allow the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to increase the share of river waters released to Rajasthan from Punjab.
Sukhbir said chief minister Bhagwant Mann has committed to increasing the share, but his party, “We will not allow one extra drop of water to be released to Rajasthan even if we have to give up our life to prevent this gross injustice.”
Addressing a dharna in this parched area bordering Rajasthan Sukhbir alleged that it was AAP’s conspiracy to trade off the state’s river waters to secure votes in Rajasthan in the upcoming elections there. “The very fact that the chief minister had not denied news reports about the assurance given by him to Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) chief Hanuman Beniwal and Rajasthan farmers that the AAP government would increase water share flowing from the Sirhind Feeder to Rajasthan was proof of a diabolic plot to rob Punjab of its river waters,” he said.
Badal added that Mann has given a specific assurance to increase the water share.
“The water share will increase from the present 700 cusecs to 1,250 cusecs which will affect the livelihood of lakhs of farmers in Punjab,” Badal added.
Badal said the SAD would continue to stand by the Riparian Principle. “We will not allow one drop of extra water to go to Rajasthan nor will we allow any water to go to Haryana from the SYL canal,” he said, highlighting how former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had safeguarded the river waters of Punjab by passing the Punjab SYL canal (Rehabilitation and Re-vesting of Property Rights) Bill, 2016 which returned the land acquired for construction of the SYL canal back to farmers.
Telling farmers that they would have to remain vigilant against the conspiracies of AAP and its boss and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, the SAD leader said, “One year back Kejriwal assured the people of Haryana in front of Bhagwant Mann that AAP will get SYL waters to Haryana if elected to power in the state. The Haryana AAP unit president had officially given a ‘guarantee’ to this effect to the people of the state”.
