With opposition parties accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of “weakening” Punjab’s case before the Supreme Court in Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case, the ruling party on Wednesday said Punjab is not in a position to give even a single drop of additional water to other states.
AAP Punjab chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the water situation in Punjab is no longer the same as it was 50 years ago. Today Punjab itself is struggling with water issues. Recently, in the North Zone Council meeting, Chief Minister Bhagwat Mann had said that Punjab cannot give additional water to any state, he said.
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Kang, on behalf of the party, demanded that a tribunal be constituted to know the situation of water in SYL and Punjab. The tribunal should conduct an in-depth study on the matter as to whether Punjab is in a position to provide water to other states in the present circumstances or not, he added.
The AAP spokesperson said the land which was notified for SYL has now also been denotified.
“Now notifying it again will create many problems. So now it is not possible to make SYL because we neither have extra water nor the required land. We will put this matter before the court in a legal manner and will also raise it before the Central Government,” he said.
Kang also cornered the Akali Dal and Badal family on the issue of SYL. He said that it was former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal led government that first notified the land for SYL.
He put the interests of Punjab at stake because of his personal relationship with former Haryana Chief Minister Devi Lal and took advantage of that relationship to acquire huge properties in Gurgaon and many other places in Haryana.
