Bains: HP CM’s demand for royalty childish

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 20

Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) chief and Atam Nagar MLA Simarjit Singh Bains has criticised Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur for demanding a royalty over river waters from Punjab and Haryana.

Terming Thakur’s statement made in Chandigarh on Thursday as childish, Bains claimed that Thakur does not seem to know the basic concept of the riparian and non-riparian principles.

Bains said no state or country could charge any kind of tax on natural flow of water from one territory to another.

He said Himachal had no ground to seek royalty as water flows in a natural course to Punjab. “However, on the other hand, if water flows into other state or territory through man-made canals, then water can be taxed,” he said.