CHANDIGARH: The Akali Dal (Amritsar) on Aug. 29 took strong exception to the statement of Chic Minister Beant Singh, that he would be willing to barter away the waters of the Punjab for the transfer of Chandigarh.
Talking to media persons here, party’s apex ad hoc committee member Simranjit Singh Mann, said the Akali Dal (A) wanted to make it very clear that it considered Chandigarh to be an integral part of Punjab, It was built for Punjab as ifs capital with money pumped in by the Punjabis, As such, the question of the transfer of Chandigarh at the cost of never waters did not arise, He asked as to under what provisions of the law Beant Singh wanted to make this deal.
He said the only way to solve the river waters dispute was to implement Article 246 of the Constitution. “Let the government implement its own constitution, he pleaded. Mann said under Article 246 and as per the riparian law, the waters of Punjab rivers could not flow into Haryana through the Satluj Yamuna link canal. Moreover, Sections 78 to 80 of the Punjab Reorganization Act contravened Article 246, According to this Article, river waters is a state subject and well beyond the purview of the Center. He regretted that all the chief ministers of Punjab since 1966 had neither the will nor the courage to challenge the constitutional validity of this serious contravention. Prior, to 1966, the than chief minister, Partap Singh Kairon, gave away the rights over the state river waters to Rajasthan and Delhi, He said the history of the state after 1947 was the history of plunder of its natural resources.
He said obviously, Beant Singh’ did not realize the implication of economic disaster looming large over Punjab.
He made it clear his party would not allow a drop of water to flow into the SYL canal and not exchange Chandigarh for the water resources as both belonged to Punjab.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 2, 1994
