Photo: Anu Pushkarna

IN STATE'S INTERESTS: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda addresses a press conference at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday vowed that the State would give a "fitting response'' to the intended move by Punjab to deny river water to Haryana.

Mr. Hooda, who met Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz here, attributed "unconstitutional and questionable motives'' to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's move towards scrapping a section of the Punjab Termination Agreement's Act, 2004 which states that "all existing and actual utilisations through the existing systems shall remain protected and unaffected.''

"Cheap publicity"

Accusing the Punjab Chief Minster of indulging in cheap publicity, Mr. Hooda said the President had made a reference to the Supreme Court regarding the constitutional validity of the 2004 Act.

"It is not understood how a piece of legislation, the constitutional validity of which is under the consideration of the Supreme Court, is sought to be amended,'' he said at a programme organised by the Press Club of India here.

Inherent rights

As a successor State, he said, Haryana was as much a riparian State as Punjab for the Ravi and the Beas.

Haryana had inherent rights to the water of these rivers, he asserted and said the State would move the apex court for an early hearing on the matter.

On whether he favoured nationalisation of rivers, he replied that as an MP he had said that every drop of water should be national property.

Special Economic Zones

On the issue of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which his party MP Kuldeep Bishnoi has questioned on several grounds, Mr. Hooda emphasised that the State had not acquired any land for setting up the SEZ even though it could do so. "The Government is committed to working for the welfare of the farmers. The Haryana Government has not acquired even one acre of land [for SEZs]. There is no controversy and those who are trying to whip up one are playing politics,'' the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Hooda recounted the progress made by the State on the socio-economic front and the steps being taken by his Government to build infrastructure.

He said one of the social welfare measures was the decision to hike minimum wages across various sections that would make the State pay higher wages than any other State.

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