AMBALA: The president of the Akali Dal (Badal) president, Prakash Singh Badal. Speaking about the completion of the Sutlej Yamuna link canal, said here fast week, that Haryana had no right to water of Punjab.
Talking to news persons, he said that the canal should not have been dug because there was no surplus water to apportion to Haryana. The decision in this regard was taken by the then Imigation Minister, Lebri Singh, during the days of the joint Punjab, Haryana, he said, was not a riparian state and all rights to the water, therefore, with Punjab which was truly riparian.
Badal challenged the Indira Gandhi River Water Award and said it was “totally illegal” and was aimed at robbing Punjab of its rights. The issue should have been referred to a tribunal headed by a Supreme Court judge. Bur Mrs.Gandhi was not keen on it because the verdict of the tribunal would have been binding. Indira award, he said, discriminated against Punjab.
He asserted that Punjab had a “legal right” over Chandigarh be ‘Pause the capital city has to be retained by the parent state while the successor state should construct a new one under the provisions of the Constitution. The exchange of Hindi speaking areas was also illegal since these areas had no contiguity with Haryana.
Earlier, Badal addressed a gathering at Ambala City at New Anaj Mandi where thousands of supporters of the Badal Akali Dal had gathered despite rumors of can Collation of rally allegedly spread by the supporters of Kartar Singh Takkar of Akali Dal (Amritsar) and its call to Sikhs in Haryana to boycott the meeting.
Badal regretted that some “irresponsible persons under the patronage of Gureharan Singh Pohra, SGPC president, were spreading les to create a wedge between the Sikhs.” He announced that such elements would not be allowed to succeed in their malicious and sinister objectives, Tohra, alleged Badal, was in league with the Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh, in order to ~postpone the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee elections which were overdue and had been announced last February, “Tohra has utterly failed to manage the affairs of gurdwaras run under the management of the SGPC and these are in total neglect.” The SGPC employees, he charged, did not get their salaries and irregularities were being committed in funds. He said that if the elections were not held in time he would move the High Court against the move of the Tohra Beant Singh combine.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 23, 1994
