Haryana Cong rejects Amarinder claim on Chandigarh

Chandigarh, Nov 17 (UNI) Reacting to the statement of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) today said the Union Territory of Chandigarh ''belonged to Haryana''.

The HPCC also made it clear that Haryana would not give up its claim to its share of river waters and the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

''We are not begging for water from Punjab, it is our right'', HPCC working president Dr Ram Prakash said while addressing the first meeting of the newly appointed Presidents of Block Congress Committees here.

The HPCC statement has come after Capt Singh yesterday rubbished Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's claim on Chandigarh and the river waters.

Meanwhile the meeting passed a resolution unanimously asking party workers ''to guard against such persons, who posing as Congressman are damaging the party by their statements''. The resolution without naming anyone demanded stringent action against such persons.

Through another resolution, the meeting said that those who were opposing the SEZ projects were ''anti-farmer and anti-development''.

The resolution said that the SEZ projects would expedite the pace of development and would solve the problem of unemployment.

The meeting lauded the steps taken by the Haryana government for the welfare of the people during the last 20 months. The participants at the meeting decided to carry the policies and programmes of the government upto the village level. Dr Ram Prakash urged the workers to beware of the critics of the government and give them a benefitting reply.

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