SAD accuses Cong of "giving away" Punjab waters

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today accused the Punjab Congress of giving away the waters of the state to Haryana through Hansi-Butana canal under a "secret deal".
However, the opposition party asserted that it would never let this "conspiracy" see the light of day.
The party also passed a resolution in this regard in a meeting of its core committee which was presided over by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and attended by the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
"The Punjab Congress has in-principle agreed to sell away the interests of the state and its river waters by giving 1,000 cusecs of water to Haryana through the Hansi-Butana canal," the SAD alleged in a release.

The resolution asked "the Punjab Congress not to play with fire".
Earlier, the SAD had led a 'morcha' to stop construction of the SYL canal.

"We will not allow one drop of our river waters to go out of the state," the resolution affirmed.
In another resolution, the SAD condemned the manner in which the Punjab Congress had become a party to "insulting" 'Akal Takht' as well as the Sikh 'Sangat' by preventing Takth jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh from entering the Chhota Ghallughara gurdwara in Kahnuwan after the incident of alleged sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahab.
The resolution said subsequent to this, instead of taking action against those allegedly indulging in sacrilege, false cases were registered against Akali leaders of Gurdaspur, besides 500 other persons in an attempt to "brow beat" the SAD on the eve of the Gurdaspur by-poll.

Stating that the party would not take this lying down, the resolution said in case the Congress government did not withdraw these vendetta cases, the SAD would hold a massive protest on September 26 at Gurdaspur.
The SAD also noted the "utter failure" of the Congress government on all fronts including "fraud" with farmers, youth and weaker sections of society in yet another resolution.
It said the six-month tenure of the Congress was akin to a "dark era" in which there was "no hope" of light with the government making it clear that it would not fulfil any of its commitments.

"In such a situation the people have no hope from this anti-people government and it has no moral right to serve them any longer," it said.
The core committee also passed a resolution lauding the services rendered by India's first IAF Marshal Arjan Singh.
It said the late Marshal had played a stellar role in the 1965 war and was also responsible for turning the IAF into a modern fighting unit.
It resolved that Marshal Arjan Singh be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna for his services to the nation.