‘Will stop Punjab’s waters to Rajasthan’: Sukhbir invokes riparian rights at Amarkot rally

Khemkaran: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced on Wednesday that the Akali Dal would stop Punjab's waters from flowing into Rajasthan on coming to power and divert it to irrigate fields of the state.Addressing a political rally at the Amarkot grain market, Badal said, "The Congress gave away half of our river waters to Rajasthan in contravention of the riparian principle, which says the river water belongs to the state in which it flows. We will undo this discrimination."
He said that SAD would not allow chief minister Bhagwant Mann to allegedly compromise the interests of the state by allowing water to be given to Haryana through the SYL canal "because the Centre was in possession of a file listing his illegal land purchase abroad. "This is the reason why Mann has now softened his stand and publicly declared he is open to discussing ways and means to hand over Punjab's waters to Haryana," he alleged. The SAD president announced that the Thein dam would be developed as a tourism hub and that the Rahat scheme, which was a lump-sum tax collection scheme from traders, would be restarted. Accompanied by Khemkaran constituency in-charge Virsa Singh Valtoha, Sukhbir announced that the party would end the gangster culture and drug mafia. "We will change laws to deny such elements bail for 10 years besides auctioning their properties," he reiterated. Asking people to bring the SAD back to power to save Punjab, Sukhbir said, "I promise you that, like my father Parkash Singh Badal, I will take Punjab ahead by leaps and bounds." Continuing the pre-poll promises, he also announced that motorcycles would be exempted from road tax. On the occasion, SAD functionary Bikram Singh Majithia mentioned about the alleged distress of farmers and how farm suicides have increased. Others who spoke on the occasion included Virsa Singh Valtoha, Alwinderpal Singh Pakhoke, Gaurav Singh Valtoha, Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, and Sarabjit Singh Jhinjher. MSID:: 128507218 413 |