Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is still non-committal on fulfilling the promise made in the election manifesto to scrap Clause 5 of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act (PTAA) 2004,which safeguards the use of present quantum of river waters by neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan. Badal who was here on Sunday to inaugurate a couple of projects said the issue was very complicated and required examination by legal experts. He,however,reiterated that Punjab had exclusive rights over its river waters and justified the demand of royalty for use of its water by other states,comparing it to the royalty being received by other states on coal or minerals. Reacting to the Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hoodas statement that Haryana,too,had right over the water,Badal said Punjab had always been discriminated against on the issue. We are only demanding our right over river waters. Rajasthan was paying royalty during the British period, he said.
