:dateline:In a statement made earlier today, Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal said that the�stance of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on the SYL Canal issue was anti-Punjab.
He added�that the AAP has failed to support the demands of Punjab’s farmers. Badal said�that during the Supreme Court�s hearing on April 4, the Delhi government had backed the Haryana government�s argument against the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act of 2004. �The counsel for Delhi’s government had stated that state assemblies do not hold authority to cancel their pacts with other states without mutual agreement.
Following�Delhi�s�support of�Haryana in the Supreme Court, the Dal Khalsa said in a press release that Punjab should stop the flow of water to neighboring states. If this wasn�t possible,�Dal Khalsa wrote that Punjab should charge other states royalties for the use of its water.
�Water is natural resource for Punjab, like Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand has coal mines, Rajasthan has marble and several other states have iron ores. They are all charging royalty for mining,� they�wrote.��If these states can take royalty, why is�Punjab being denied its right to royalty for water?��
Party head H. S. Dhami and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said that states using Punjab�s natural resources free of cost are looting. So, the people of Punjab, irrespective of their political ideologies and castes, should join hands to pressure�the Akali government to take some practical steps toward protecting its waters.�
Kejriwal had also stated, during a meeting with Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal on March 16, that both the Akali Dal and the Congress were playing games. Kejriwal had stated earlier that�he was against the SYL�Canal because�Punjab is going through a drought and has no spare water to share with neighboring states.�
