Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann diluted state’s stand on SYL, says SAD

Chandigarh, November 1

The SAD said today that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had diluted Punjab’s stand on the SYL canal by asserting that Rajasthan and Haryana had ‘complete rights’ over the State’s river waters. It accused him of wasting Rs 30 crore to conduct a one-man show, which should have been titled ‘Main Jhooth Bolda’.

Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leaders Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Virsa Singh Valtoha also took on the CM for indulging in a slander campaign against former CM Parkash Singh Badal. The leaders said contrary to the claim made by Mann, the Bani distributary, which served 20 villages in Haryana, had become operational in 1955 and not 1998. The leaders challenged Mann to prove otherwise or apologise. They also said the truth was that former Haryana CM Devi Lal had approached the Supreme Court to demand construction of a canal to take Punjab waters to Haryana, while Parkash Singh Badal opposed this by filing a petition challenging Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act in 1979.