SAD to gherao CM Bhagwant Mann’s residence on Oct 10
Kapuri (Patiala), October 7, 2023 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today appealed to Punjabis not to allow any central team wishing to conduct a survey to facilitate supply of Ravi-Beas water from the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal to Haryana to enter the State.
Addressing a public gathering at this historic village which was at the epicenter of the ‘dharam yudh’ morcha launched by the SAD to stop construction of the SYL canal, the SAD president also announced that the party would not allow a single drop of water to go to Haryana come what may. “Be it any direction of the apex court or even the dispatch of the army by the Prime Minister to facilitate transfer of water to Haryana, we will not let this become a reality”, the SAD president asserted.
Amidst enthusiastic sloganeering, Mr Sukhbir Badal also announced that the SAD would ‘gherao’ chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence on October 10 and that senior party leaders, including halqa incharges, SGPC members and Youth Akali Dal volunteers, would take part in the gherao. He said the party leadership would collect at the party office and then march to the chief minister’s residence.
He said the party was conducting a ‘gherao’ of the chief minister’s residence as the latter was the biggest culprit vis a vis selling off Punjab’s interests on SYL. He said the AAP government had deliberately capitulated in the apex court during hearing on the SYL case by expressing its willingness to construct the SYL canal but for pressure from opposition parties as well as difficulties in acquiring land for the canal which had been returned back to farmers by the erstwhile SAD government. “Chief minister Bhagwant Mann took this stand to satisfy his boss Arvind Kejriwal who is keen to release Punjab river waters to Haryana and Rajasthan to win support for his party in the forthcoming elections in the two States”.
Asserting that the SAD would resolve this issue once and for all when it assumed power in Punjab, Mr Badal said “we are committed to terminating all water sharing agreements and stopping the flow of water to Rajasthan”. He said Rajasthan had been unilaterally given half (8 MAF) of the total water of Punjab in 1955. Not only this, in 1981 former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi forced then Punjab chief minister Darbara Singh to agree to the construction of the SYL canal following which formal digging of the same was started by the Prime Minister in this village”.
Stating that land meant for the canal had been returned back to farmers by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in 2016, Mr Badal said “as of now there is no canal. Also Punjab does not have any water to spare. So there is no question of releasing any water to Haryana”.
Senior leaders Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Surjit Singh Rakhra talked at length on how AAP was following in the footsteps of the Congress party and was working against the interests of Punjab to favour Haryana and Rajasthan. Mr Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra and Youth Akali Dal (YAD) president Sarabjit Singh Jhinjer also spoke on the occasion.
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