Punjab CM: SYL will never become reality

Kauli (Pb), Mar 31: Upping the ante, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) would never become a reality and accused successive Congress governments at the Centre of doing "grave injustice" to the state.

According to Badal, Punjab doesn't have a single drop of spare water for anybody and SYL agreement was a "grave injustice done by the successive Congress governments with the state."

He said Akali Dal was opposed to the agreement which it believed would rob the water of the state and now they were firm on their stand not to allow the construction of the canal at any cost.

"Ironically Captain Amarinder Singh and other Congress leaders who hailed the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for ground breaking ceremony for the project in 1980s are now resorting to tactics like ground-filling at the same site just to mislead the people," the CM said.

The Chief Minister said any such move to share the river waters of the state would be "disastrous" for it. He said while undertaking the agreement on the SYL canal, the then Congress government at the Centre "completely overlooked the universally-accepted riparian principle on river water sharing."

"Not only me but every Punjabi was duty bound to oppose this move and all of us should pledge to protect the waters of the state at any cost," he said.

The Chief Minister alleged that the successive Congress governments at the Centre have meted out step motherly treatment to Punjab by denying it of legitimate share in river waters.

He alleged that Congress has inflicted a deep wound on the Sikh psyche by irrelevantly meddling in their social, political, economic and even religious matters.

Badal claimed that no Punjabi would ever forgive Congress for its "dubious role" in executing Sikh riots and attacking Sri Darbar Sahib in 1984.

PTI