CHANDIGARH, India: The Akali Dal (L) Legislature Party has rejected outright the Eradi Commission Award on the sharing of river waters describing it as volatile of the terms of reference of Punjab accord, The Party which ruled Punjab before the imposition of the Presidential Rule, in a resolution said that the implementation of this award will have disastrous effect on the farmers of the State and will ruin the State economy by rendering barren 60 lakh acres of land. The former Chief Minister, and President of the Party, Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala, who presided over the meeting, had invited other groups in the Vidhan Sabha but barring Mr. Karnail Singh Dod, an independent M.L.A. no non-Akali responded to his request. The meeting was attended by 37 M.L.A:s out of 45 of the total strength of 45 M.L.A:s.
Releasing the resolution at the news conference, Mr. Barnala said that the Tribunal has befooled Punjab and Haryana by increasing the share of both the States on the basis of hypothetical data of the Availability of the water. The Tribunal has allowed itself to become the victim of one political party which has high stakes in the forthcoming Haryana elections. Mr. Balwant Singh, the ex-Finance Minister, who was present at the press conference, described this Award as totally false. The Commission, he said, worked with predetermined mind and predetermined judgment and exercised the jurisdiction by taking upon it the task of locating national water which was not warranted by the act or the Accord.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1987
