Yes­ter­day, the In­dian Min­is­ter in charge of the De­part­ment of Atomic en­ergy stated in the In­dian Par­lia­ment that the gov­ern­ment was look­ing for prob­a­ble sites for nu­clear plants in Pun­jab. In a sharp and quick re­ac­tion, Dal Khalsa strongly op­poses New Del­hi’s pro­posal and seeks to­tal re­jec­tion of the move by all po­lit­i­cal par­ties of Pun­jab. 

IN the in­ter­est and safety of the peo­ple of the state, we op­pose the gov­ern­ment of In­di­a’s pro­posal to set up a nu­clear power plant in Pun­jab said the Dal Khalsa in a sharp and quick re­ac­tion to the Cen­tre’s move yes­ter­day in the In­dian Par­lia­ment.

The pro­posal to set up a nu­clear power plant in a densely-pop­u­lated bor­der state is to­tally fraught with dan­ger­ous con­se­quences cau­tioned Kan­war Pal Singh, the spokesper­son of the party.

Yes­ter­day dur­ing ques­tion hour in Par­lia­ment, Min­is­ter of State in the De­part­ment of Atomic En­ergy Ji­ten­dra Singh said the gov­ern­ment was ex­plor­ing new sites near Bathinda and Pa­tiala to set up nu­clear power plants in Pun­jab.

The Dal Khalsa state­ment men­tioned that in 2016 too, the Cen­tre looked for pos­si­ble sites in Pun­jab for set­ting up nu­clear power plants. How­ever, the then Pun­jab Gov­ern­ment of BJP’s ally Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal and all other po­lit­i­cal par­ties in­clud­ing the Con­gress had re­jected the pro­posal.

Party spokesman Kan­war Pal Singh said pre­sent-day Pun­jab -the bor­der state sand­wiched be­tween two hos­tile nu­clear-ready na­tions pre­sents a dis­turb­ing pos­si­bil­ity of be­ing con­verted into a the­atre of war. Set­ting-up a nu­clear plant in the state could prove dis­as­trous for Pun­jab- given the an­i­mos­ity be­tween the two arch-ri­vals In­dia and Pak­istan.

As far as a power short­age in Pun­jab is con­cerned, the Cen­tre should fully hand over the Bhakra-Beas Man­age­ment Board to Pun­jab, read the Dal Khalsa state­ment. Once the man­age­ment is handed over to its orig­i­nal owner Pun­jab – the state will be­come power sur­plus. New Delhi should with­draw from its il­le­gal con­trol over the Bhakra Beas Man­age­ment Board, said Kan­war Pal Singh.