Will bring in new law to save Punjab waters: Amarinder
Sunday, 20/11/2016
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BARNALA: Accusing chief minister Parkash Singh Badal of mismanaging the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday announced that if the Congress came to power, he would bring in a new legislation to save the state’s waters.
Amarinder was here to attend a function to mark the 10th anniversary celebrations of the formation of Barnala district, which was carved out during his tenure as chief minister in 2006.
Accusing the Badals of failing to protect Punjab’s interests in the SYL case, he said, “Badal allowed Punjab’s water to Haryana in 1978 to please his friend Devi Lal, the then chief minister of Haryana.”
"I am often accused of providing ‘kahi’ and ‘tasla’ for the SYL canal’s foundation; I had actually given these in the ‘kar seva’ at Amritsar after Operation Bluestar,” he said.
Amarinder also promised to waive property tax for those with income up to `2.5 lakh and substantially reduce the same for others, once in power.
Furthermore, free power subsidy in the state will continue and the ‘atta dal’ scheme will be expanded to include tea and sugar, he said.
Referring to the transport business allegedly run by the Badals, the Punjab Congress chief asserted that his government would take over the transport network from them and hand it over to the unemployed youth in the state.
"There were 300 industrial units in Mandi Gobindgarh, almost all of these have either closed or are on the verge of closure due to faulty policies of the government. We will definitely revive these to give a fillip to employment," he said.
On demonetisation policy of the Narendra Modi government, Captain Amarinder said it was not helping to curb corruption and black money but was, instead, causing suffering to the common people.
Barnala MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon attacked the state government for “failing to ensure development” in the district in the past 10 years. “Barnala does not have good health and education facilities because it was sidelined by the Akali government,” he said.
