SYL row: Will claim royalty for riverwaters, says Badal

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 8 

Giving a fresh twist to the Satluj Yamuna Link canal (SYL) row, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said Punjab would demand royalty from states sharing its riverwaters in the event of the Supreme Court delivering a verdict against the state over the sharing of its riverwaters.

Talking to the media at a Sangat Darshan programme at Badali Ala Singh today, he said with Rajasthan, Bihar and other states claiming royalty from states using their mineral resources, Punjab too had a legitimate right to claim royalty for using its riverwaters. 

Terming the proposed resignation by Capt Amarinder Singh and Congress legislators if the Supreme Court pronounced a verdict against Punjab, Badal said it was a mere political drama. He alleged that the Opposition had never worked for the interests of Punjab.

On the arrest of radical leaders who proposed to hold Sarbat Khalsa at Talwandi Sabo on November 10, the CM blamed Pakistan-based Sikh terrorists and the ISI for trying to vitiate peace in Punjab. 

Pointing out that members of various radical Sikh organisations had raised anti-national slogans at the Sarbat Khalsa held at Chabba village near Amritsar last year, he said the primary objective of the SAD-BJP government was to maintain peace and amity in Punjab.