by Punjabnewswire4u.blogspot.com (Balbir)
CHANDIGARH, JULY 15
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh
Badal today took strong
exception to the revelation made by the Union Water Resources Minister Mr.
Pawan Kumar Bansal regarding the Centre's proposed move to shift the subject of
water from the “State list” to the “Concurrent list” of the Constitution with
the purported objective to deal with water scarcity and conservation issues in
the national interest.
In
a statement, Mr. Badal said that the Centre's intended move to transfer the
subject of “Water” from State list to the Concurrent list was against the basic
spirit of federalism and would further weaken the States thereby
encroaching upon their rights by depriving them of their legitimate and
justified Constitutional rights. Mr. Badal, however, said that Centre should
desist from taking this un-democratic step which would lead to
wide-spread resentment amongst the states. The Centre should rather sincerely
strive to resolve the inter-State water issues within the ambit of settled and
internationally accepted principles of the riparian law.
The Chief Minister vehemently opposed the attempt of the
Consultative Committee of Parliament constituted to form a new national water
policy recommending the transfer of ‘‘Water’’ subject from state list to the
concurrent list as mentioned by Mr. Bansal in a joint press conference
addressed at Chandigarh along with the Union Home Minister Mr. P Chidambaram on
Friday.
The Chief Minister lamented that it was unbecoming of a senior statesman like Mr. Chidambaram who kept the Chief Ministers in dark during the proceedings of the 26th meeting of northern zonal Chief Minister's conference held here under his Chairmanship, barely a few hours before.
Mr. Badal said he was pained to note that Mr. Chidambaram asked all the Chief Ministers and their representatives present in the meeting not to raise any contentious issues like sharing of water and other inter-state territorial disputes, which could mar the cordial atmosphere of the meeting. Adding further, he said these issues could be resolved later in a separate meeting. Mr. Chidambaram did not mention anything about the Center's insidious move of attempting to shift the water subject from the state list to the concurrent list. In the meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, Mr. Chidambaram should have specifically mentioned this because item no 1.9 of the agenda clearly stipulated the action taken report on the water issues. On the contrary, Mr. Bansal divulged these details in the presence of Mr. Chidambaram during a press conference here just an hour after the conference was over, which was highly deplorable and undesirable.
Mr. Badal said that he particularly raised the issue demanding more political and financial powers for the states to strengthen the federal structure, but in reality the existing federal spirit in the country was being violated by the Center as it had been quietly shifting subjects from the state list to the concurrent list and concurrent list to Union list. He had even said in his opening remarks at the conference such violations on the Federal Principles would not only weaken the states but also create unnecessary complications, hampering smooth relations between Centre and the States. Mr. Badal categorically said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had ever been a votary of strong federal character and any such attempt on the part of Centre to deprive our state from its legitimate share of river waters would never be tolerated at any cost.
The Chief Minister lamented that it was unbecoming of a senior statesman like Mr. Chidambaram who kept the Chief Ministers in dark during the proceedings of the 26th meeting of northern zonal Chief Minister's conference held here under his Chairmanship, barely a few hours before.
Mr. Badal said he was pained to note that Mr. Chidambaram asked all the Chief Ministers and their representatives present in the meeting not to raise any contentious issues like sharing of water and other inter-state territorial disputes, which could mar the cordial atmosphere of the meeting. Adding further, he said these issues could be resolved later in a separate meeting. Mr. Chidambaram did not mention anything about the Center's insidious move of attempting to shift the water subject from the state list to the concurrent list. In the meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, Mr. Chidambaram should have specifically mentioned this because item no 1.9 of the agenda clearly stipulated the action taken report on the water issues. On the contrary, Mr. Bansal divulged these details in the presence of Mr. Chidambaram during a press conference here just an hour after the conference was over, which was highly deplorable and undesirable.
Mr. Badal said that he particularly raised the issue demanding more political and financial powers for the states to strengthen the federal structure, but in reality the existing federal spirit in the country was being violated by the Center as it had been quietly shifting subjects from the state list to the concurrent list and concurrent list to Union list. He had even said in his opening remarks at the conference such violations on the Federal Principles would not only weaken the states but also create unnecessary complications, hampering smooth relations between Centre and the States. Mr. Badal categorically said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had ever been a votary of strong federal character and any such attempt on the part of Centre to deprive our state from its legitimate share of river waters would never be tolerated at any cost.
Mr. Badal further
said that his views on setting up of genuine federal structure were fully
endorsed by none other than the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prof. P.K.
Dhumal. He pointed out that his stand on the deliberate attempt of the Centre
to dilute the federal structure has been vindicated by Mr. Bansal's remarks on
shifting the water subject from
state list to the concurrent list. Mr. Badal said that it would have been better if the Union Home Minister had taken all the Chief Ministers present in the meeting into confidence and should have shared this proposed move with them to solicit their views in this regard. It didn’t behoove of the leader of stature like Mr. Chidambaram to misguide the Chief Ministers in the forum which had been created to resolve the contentious issues amongst the neighboring states amicably in perfect harmony rather creating mistrust and confusion, was totally unfair and unwarranted in the ethos of the true spirit of democracy.
state list to the concurrent list. Mr. Badal said that it would have been better if the Union Home Minister had taken all the Chief Ministers present in the meeting into confidence and should have shared this proposed move with them to solicit their views in this regard. It didn’t behoove of the leader of stature like Mr. Chidambaram to misguide the Chief Ministers in the forum which had been created to resolve the contentious issues amongst the neighboring states amicably in perfect harmony rather creating mistrust and confusion, was totally unfair and unwarranted in the ethos of the true spirit of democracy.
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