Punjab Pradhesh Congress Committee President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring held a press conference at Punjab Congress Bhawan today. While addressing the media, he discussed at length about the facts of the SYL and also expressed Punjab’s inability to give water to any other state.
Speaking on the situation Raja Warring said that Punjab, the land under farming, would get heavily affected if the decision regarding the SYL Canal goes against the state. “If we are asked to share any more water, we will be killing the farmers of our state with our own hands, thus killing Punjab as well.” - said Warring.
Speaking to the media, the PPCC Chief urged all political parties of Punjab to come together on the issue and demanded the central government led by the BJP to look sympathetically at the issue as it is related to Punjab’s future and not merely play politics on the same. Cautioning both the state and central governments, Warring claimed that both of them will be responsible for signing the death warrant of Punjab if an adequate solution is not found soon.
“The situation would have been resolved in 2017 itself by the BJP lead central government, but rather, the centre decided to run away from the situation and later filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court conveying their inability to resolve the issue and demanded the court’s intervention.”
Warring questioned, that why does BJP intentionally get the Supreme Court to take politically difficult decisions for them? Recent example of this was the Ram Janam Bhumi issue.He further said that when Supreme Court made a judgment in favor of the AAP Delhi government, why did the Union government bring an ordinance against the same, thus violating the Honorable Court’s decision? ‘Why can’t the union government pass an ordinance in favour of Punjab in this case also?’ - he quipped.
“The people need to understand the situation rather than jumping to solutions. We are already giving away 70% of our water to neighbouring states, how can we share additional water? When we don’t have any water to spare then there is no need of construction of the canal at all’ he said.
Citing some studies which show that Punjab would turn into a desert in the next 10-15 years, he expressed his worries regarding the state’s future. “I understand when people from Haryana speak in favour of their state but why is AAP being two faced?”
He asked that why did the state government in their reply in the Supreme Court state that the opposition parties and farmer unions were not allowing them to construct the canal?” he demanded that the state government should have conveyed strongly that the construction of the canal was not in favor of the state, which is exactly why it is not being constructed.
Attacking Shiromani Akali Dal, the party which claims to watch Punjab’s interests on every issue, he presented facts showing that the SAD Government led by Former CM Late Parkash Singh Badal had in 1978 notified the urgency acquisition of land for the construction of the Canal.
He also informed that it was the Akali Dal government led by Surjit Singh Barnala during whose tenure the construction of the canal was started.Talking about the Rajiv-Longowal Accord, Warring showcased how only Section 9.3 was being highlighted, that too in an incomplete manner. “Section 9.1 of the accord states no additional water will be given, while Section 9.2 states a tribunal to be created for assessment of excess water.
Finally, Section 9.3 then states, if there is excess water, then the SYL Canal should be constructed.” He said that only Section 9.3 was being referred and questioned why the first two Sections were not considered. He quipped that the same accord guaranteed that Chandigarh will be given to Punjab but nothing happened on that front too.
In his concluding remarks, Warring said that the Congress in Punjab has always been against the construction of the SYL and that it was during the Congress rule only when the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004 was passed.
The act, which exists till date, shows our stand regarding the situation. I request all political parties and farm unions to come together in an all-party meeting. Let’s have an open discussion, everybody should have time to talk and find a solution together.”
There is no time to play blame games anymore. Don’t mold each other’s statements, come together and work for Punjab. This is about our future, this is about our state, and this is about our homeland. A solution can only be found when we sit and discuss with all political parties and farmer unions.” – said Raja Warring.