Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for setting up of genuinely federal structure in the country with more financial and political powers to the states, the need for which has been felt across a general spectrum of political opinion. In his keynote address on the 26th meeting of Northern Zonal Council here, the Chief Minister, who is also the Vice Chairman of the council, said there was a wide consensus, cutting across party lines that the state governments need to be given much greater operational freedom in choosing and financing development priorities of their people. Showing deep concern over the violation of federal spirit by Centre, Badal said that the tendency of the Center has been to usurp, through open and clandestine ways, the powers and authority of the states already ensured by the Constitution. This tendency was on the rise at a scale never seen before. In certain cases, this violation of the constitution by the Center has been nothing short of “flagrant”, with the Centre willfully legislating on issues that fall in the States purview.The Chief Minister pointed out the most dangerous exhibition of this tendency was seen in how the Centre had been quietly shifting subjects from the State’s List to the Concurrent List and from the Concurrent to the Union List. Such violations of the federal principle would not only further weaken the states but would also create unnecessary complications, hampering smooth relations between the Center and the states.Demanding immediate transfer of Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas in Punjab which have been kept out of the state, Badal said that the violation of the federal principle was also at the root of injustice done to the states in geographical and other issues. He said in Punjab these pending issues continued to remain a festering wound as we have been consistently demanding resolution of these contentious inter-state issues on the priority. Pleading for rewriting the formula for devolution of Central funds, the Chief Minister said the states needed more funds for their primary developmental needs. He said “We have demanding that the states should be given at least 50% share in taxes collected from the states. The allocation of funds to the States should in fact be made growth dependent, so as to encourage the States and subjects to perform better”. The Chief Minister impressed upon the Centre for strengthening federalism by increasing devolution of Central funds to states from the present 32% to 50%, along with change in the devolution criteria so that it was not detrimental to the interests of the relatively more developed states.Emphasizing the need for restructuring the Inter State Council, Badal said that it was the need of the hour in the true spirit of federalism for strengthening the states and ultimately the Union of Indian. He suggested that the Secretariat of the Inter-State Council should be attached to the Secretariat of the Rajya Sabha rather than being a department of Government of India (GoI). All initiatives on the concurrent list may first be discussed in the Inter-State Council and approved by 2/3rd majority before given any legislative shape. In case, the Inter-State Council was restructured into a constitutional and strong body, as suggested, the existence and relevance of the Zonal Councils could be also reviewed by the Inter-State Council and brought into its fold by amending the States Reorganization Act, 1956. Dwelling on the huge financial and economic loss suffered by the state due to flight of Industry from Punjab in wake of fiscal industrial concessions granted to Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand by the Government of India (GoI), Badal said they were not against granting these concessions to other states, but at the same time Punjab must be duly compensated by setting up SEZ for agro processing industry in the state. This initiative would not only boost agriculture economy but would also provide a level playing field.Underscoring the need for channelization of the remaining portion of 17.55 kilometers of Ghaggar river from Makorar Sahib to Karail out of total stretch of 40 kilometers which had been put on hold due apprehensions expressed by Haryana that it might cause adverse effect on the state, Badal clarified that it was technically incorrect to withhold this Phase-II which forms a part of the complete project for construction of embankment and widening of river Ghaggar from Khanauri to Karail. He also mentioned that non construction of Phase-II would not only deprive the area covered by Phase-I of the benefits of channelization of Ghaggar river but also cause to devastation in balance reach.Likewise, Badal also raised the issue re-excavation of lower Lissara Nallah that originates from village Dhamot in Doraha block of district Ludhiana and outfalls into river Ghaggar, urging the Centre to prevail upon Haryana to get the nallah re-excavated in their part of the state and also direct removal of cross bundh, immediately, so that natural drainage of nallah of Punjab territory was not obstructed.The Chief Minister also solicited Centre’s intervention to direct the Himachal Pradesh Government for immediately taking necessary corrective measures to prevent the discharge of industrial effluents into river Satluj by the industries/towns located in different parts of Himachal Pradesh i.e. Gwalthai Industrial Area, Industrial Area of Mehatpur town, Santoshgarh town, Industrial Area of Tahliwal town and industries from Nallagarh. He said the Punjab government had already initiated an ambitious project for cleaning of river waters and further delay on the part of Himachal Pradesh in this regard would defeat our objective to provide safe and clean drinking water to our people.The Chief Minister also urged the Centre to direct the BBMB to restore the ownership of land and property which was acquired for Bhakra Nangal Project and Beas Project at Nangal and Talwara Townships, respectively, vested in the erstwhile state of Punjab before reorganization in 1966, which still vested in the state of Punjab under the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966. He demanded that these properties which have been declared surplus should be immediately restored to Punjab, being the rightful owner.Seeking immediate intervention of the Centre to curb the Trans-Border Smuggling in Punjab, Badal apprised that state was facing a drug menace because of its close proximity to the international narcotics route covering Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. He pointed out that as the border was manned by the Central security forces therefore it was obligatory on the part of GoI to keep a strict vigil on the border to check this menace.
On the issue of smuggling of Poppy Husk from Rajasthan and its adverse impact on Punjab, the Chief Minister also sought direct intervention of GoI to direct the Rajasthan government to immediately take suitable steps to stop such illegal practice of drug trafficking into Punjab from its state where Poppy husk was sold freely and legally. Badal also asked the GoI to compensate Rajasthan for the notional loss of revenue. Referring to inter-state smuggling of other drugs like Opium and Charas, he also stressed on the need to combat this menace in a systematic and organized manner for which inter-state coordination was mandatory and therefore neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir should make coordinated and focused efforts.Seeking strict maintenance of 60:40 ratio in the allocation of posts between Punjab and Haryana, Badal urged the Centre to direct the Chandigarh administration not to create unnecessary problems on an extremely emotive issue. He lamented that this ratio was being frequently disturbed by Chandigarh Administration adding that the sanctity of this decision should be maintained and Chandigarh Administration should take concrete steps to ensure that the ratio of 60:40 is maintained in all departments/categories of employees to maintain a proper balance. In his address the Union Home Minister and the Chairman of the Council, P Chidambaram underlined the need to revive and strengthen the consultative mechanism of Zonal Councils and resolve the issues of common interest in spirit of cooperative federalism to promote better Centre-State and Inter State relations in our country. Listing few recent initiatives taken by the Union Government to strengthen the Centre State Relations, Chidambaram said that firstly, a commission of Centre-State Relations under the chairmanship of Justice MM Punchi former Chief Justice of India was constituted to look into the changing dynamics of Centre-state relations in the context of social, political, economic, environmental, governance and other issues in the country. However he said that only 17 states have so far submitted their comments on the recommendations of the Commission’s report circulated to them about two years ago. Secondly the Union government has transferred the work of Zonal Council Secretariat to the Inter-state Secretariat and they were further strengthing the combined secretariat so that it was able to discharge its responsibilities in more professional manner. The Union Home Minister said the best strategy was to go ahead with the issues on which there was commonality of interest and try to resolve the contentious issues in an incremental manner in the spirit of cooperative federalism. He said that differences on one issue must not hinder the process of cooperation on other issues; on the contrary resolving many common issues might help in create an atmosphere of common interest and bonding which would further pave way for resolving the other contentious issues. Chidambaram said that this had been the experiences in Centre-state relations in our country as also in other federal countries of the world and we must learn from these experiences. The Union Home Minister opined that frequent meetings of council should be held to resolve substantive issues of regional and national importance. He proposed to hold the next meeting of the council in February 2013 in Rajasthan or Jammu and Kashmir. Prominent amongst those present in the meeting included Governor of Punjab and Administrator, UT Chandigarh Shivraj V. Patil, Chief Minister Delhi Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Jammu & Kashmir Tara Chand and Lt. Governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna.