CHANDIGARH; Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh is not averse to facing a judicial commission to pin point tie responsibility for the decade Jong violence in the state
The demand for the appointment of a3-member judicial commission was curlier made by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra at Fatehgarh Sahib to ascertain whether it was the Congress Or the Akalis at the root of terrorism
Speaking at & meet the press pros gram organized by the Chandigarh Press Club here on Dec 30 Beant Singh said it was for the Center to appoint such a commission. Accepting the challenge he said it is the Akalis who would be in the dock.
When his attention was draw to the recent statement of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that Punjab Haryana and Rajasthan owed RS.1000 crore to his state for the use is surplus power share by them Beant Sing said he had no knowledge about it. However he said he was prepared to hold talks with his Himachal Pradesh counterpart .He refused to enter into a controversy about another demand for the transfer of Shanan power house in the Mandi district to Himachal Pradesh.
He said there was no proposal to build a new capital for the state and asserted serious endeavors were being made for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab at the earliest He expressed the hope that inter-state Territorial and river water disputes would soon be resolved. He denied his government had put curbs on democratic activity by the Akalis and said they were free to organize rallies and conferences. However they would not the allowed to organize sit-in.
Beant Singh disclosed that the Center had agreed to finance the Shahpur Kandi power project on Ravi.
He said the said government had recommended to the Center to fix Wheat procurement price at Rs400 per quintal.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 7, 1994
