Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today requested Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to take a clear and unequivocal stand that Punjab does not have a single drop of water to spare and will not allow any State river water to go to Haryana in the scheduled April 20 meeting with PM Narendra Modi along with his Haryana counter part."Punjab has paid a heavy price due to the about turn made by a previous Congress chief minister on the directions of former PM Indira Gandhi. Mr Darbara Singh withdrew the case challenging Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act which was used to allocate 3.5 MAF water to Haryana from the Supreme Court ", the SAD president said in a statement here.Stating that Amarinder would have to stand firm in the interests of Punjab, Mr Badal said the entire history of the SYL was a history of discrimination against Punjab at the behest of successive Congress governments at the centre. "Even Capt Amarinder Singh is part of this history. As Patiala MP he has the unfortunate legacy of having welcomed then PM Indira Gandhi to inaugurate digging of the SYL canal with advertisements in 1982".
But stating that the past is past and even Amarinder understood his mistake and tried to make amends by abrogating water treaties, he said it was left to S Parkash Singh Badal to make history by finishing the SYL issue once and for all. "The SAD- BJP government denotified the order whereby land was acquired for construction of the SYL and transferred it back to the farmers".Welcoming the meeting being held at the Prime Minister's instance, Mr Badal said this was a golden opportunity to make Haryana understand the entire issue in perspective and resolve the issue in its entirety. "We need to go into all aspects of the case including well laid riparian principles as well as the dwindling water flow in both Ravi and Beas waters and also increased dependence on river waters in Punjab due to steep wall in the ground water level in the State". He said a fresh tribunal could also be established to calculate the river waters available in Punjab as well as increase in canal water use in Punjab.Stating that he was confident that Amarinder would not surrender Punjab's rights on this issue around which the State's economy as well as that of its farmers revolved, he assured the people that the SAD would never allow a single drop of water to leave the State. He said the SAD would however support any positive step taken by the Congress government to safeguard the State's river waters. "We are ready to sacrifice ourselves but will not allow river water rights of Punjab to be surrendered at any cost", he added.