(Bikram Singh Majithia says Punjab will be the loser again if proposed legislation is bulldozed in assembly without discussion in same manner in which river waters termination Act was passed by Capt Amarinder Singh in 2004 to allow free flow of water to Haryana)
Chandigarh, October 17 (wishavwarta):- The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said there was a clear cut nexus between the Congress government in Punjab and the centre due to which the former was not revealing the legislation it proposed to bring in the Vidhan Sabha on the special session scheduled for October 19.
Condemning the Punjab government for hiding details about the proposed legislation, the SAD legislature party today demanded that the entire proposal be put in public domain immediately to allow all stakeholders to suggest changes.“Only if the government releases its proposal on social media as well as print and electronic media to invite suggestions can water tight case be prepared to save the future generations of Punjab. All three crore Punjabis should own the proposed Bill. Punjab and Punjabis should win after uniting as one on this issue”, said former minister Bikram Singh Majithia while addressing a press conference here.
“In case the government does not do this and bulldozes the legislation in the assembly in the same manner in which Capt Amarinder Singh passed the river waters termination Act in 2004 without thorough discussion and allowed free flow of water to Haryana, then Punjab will be the loser again. History will repeat itself”.
Mr Bikram Majithia along with SAD legislature party leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon said party mlas were pained that the Congress government had deliberately withheld the contents of the proposed legislation with Punjabis. “We have already suffered the ignominy of the resolution of August 28 rejecting the Agricultural ordinances being consigned to the waste paper basket after it was not forwarded to the centre by the Congress government as part of a fixed match with the NDA government. Now we don’t want a repeat of the same duplicitous strategy due to which the chief minister has constantly flip-flopped on calling a special session and only done so when forced by farmer organizations and the SAD”.
Stating that Punjabis wanted concrete action and would not tolerate friendly matches, Mr Majitjhia said since the issue was linked with the very existence of the peasantry, the chief minister should not indulge in theatrics. “The government must come out with details of what legislation it has devised to project the future of farmers, khet mazdoor and arhatiyas. People need concrete guarantees that their rights will not be sold off in the same manner in which their river water rights were sacrificed by the Capt Amarinder Singh led Congress government in 2004”.
Mr Sharanjit Dhillon said the SAD on its part has done its duty by submitting two private member bills calling for making the entire State one ‘Mandi’ besides reversing the amendments made in the Agriculture Produce Markets Act in 2017 which created provision for private markets. He said the chief minister should also address all the problems of the farming community in the special session and also come out with a time bound programme to fulfill all the promises made to them including complete loan waiver, government job and Rs 10 lakh compensation to all farm suicide victim families and a job in each household.
Others present on the occasion included Mr N K Sharma, Mr Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Mr Manpreet Ayali, Mr Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra and Mr Kanwarjit Singh Barkandi. EOM