I am ready to go to jail to save Punjab's water: Amarinder

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today said he was ready to go to jail in the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link (SYL) canal issue and claimed he would not let a single drop of water to leave the state.
"I am prepared to go behind bars, I will defy any orders to save Punjab's waters," he said at a meeting of ex-servicemen here.
The state Congress chief accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for the SYL "mess" and asked people to help his party win by two-third majority in order to take tough decisions in Punjab's interest.
Stating the state was short of water, he claimed during reorganisation, Punjab got 60 per cent land but only 40 per cent water as Yamuna river's water was not shared by Haryana.

If the canal is constructed, around 10 lakh acres in southern Punjab would go dry. A Congress government will prevent this by bringing in tough legislations through a majority in the Assembly, he claimed.
Expressing dismay at the "step-motherly treatment" meted out to ex-servicemen by the Centre, Amarinder alleged even after such a long time, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had failed to support ex-servicemen in the OROP issue.

The Modi government and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have been subjecting the defence services to all kind of humiliation through Pay Commission anomalies and degradation of army ranks below civilian ones among other things, he alleged.

Underpinning the need to bring ex-servicemen into the mainstream, he said his 'Guardians of Governance' scheme will provide employment to retired soldiers and utilise their services to ensure stringent implementation all welfare schemes.
Touching upon other problems afflicting Punjab, Amarinder claimed unemployment coupled with "Badal-patronised drug mafia had pushed the youth into a quagmire of destruction".
He said the Congress will end the drug menace in the state within four weeks of forming government.
Accusing the Badal-led government for "promoting communal polarisation by encouraging incidents of sacrilege", he underlined the need to divert police personnel from "wasteful" VVIP duties and deploy them to maintain law and order in Punjab.