SHIROMANI PUNJAB FORUM WRITES TO SPEAKER KULTAR SINGH SANDHWAN, SEEKS CONSIDERATION OF FIVE DRAFT RESOLUTIONS AT THE NEXT SITTING OF THE VIDHAN SABHA
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KBS Sidhu, IAS (Retd.), former Special Chief Secretary, Punjab, and Convener of the Shiromani Punjab Forum, has welcomed the eight resolutions passed unanimously by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha yesterday, the last day of its thirteenth session. The House spoke with one voice on Punjab’s river waters, the reopening of the Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and the continuity of welfare schemes, and the Ministers who moved them and the Members on every bench who let them pass deserve credit for it.
A resolution of the House, however, is an expression of intent, not an instrument of law. It binds neither the Union Government, nor Parliament, nor the Supreme Court. If Punjab is to show that it stands for its rights and for justice, Mr Sidhu said, the House must also speak on five matters it has left untouched.
Yesterday, immediately after the House was adjourned sine die, Mr Sidhu wrote to the Speaker, Sardar Kultar Singh Sandhwan, as the custodian of the House and of every Member in it, enclosing draft text of five resolutions.He has requested that they be placed before the Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition, the leaders of all legislature parties and the Business Advisory Committee, for consideration at the next sitting, or at a special sitting should the House be summoned before its term ends.
The five resolutions sought
*The Western Rivers. Parliament should enact a law terminating the Indus Waters Treaty in respect of the Western Rivers, held in abeyance since 23 April 2025, and reserve those waters for India. The Chenab–Beas Link, Shahpur Kandi and Ujh should be declared national projects, with Punjab’s equitable share written into the same law.
*Sections 78 and 79 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. Punjab’s original suits in the Supreme Court challenging their constitutional validity have been pending for two decades. The State should seek early listing and final hearing, examine bringing in Section 80, and file an original suit under Article 131 for the ₹1.44 lakh crore royalty claim.
* SGPC elections. The SGPC General House was last elected in 2011, and the post of Chief Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections has been vacant since 30 June 2025. The Union Government should fill it within thirty days and notify the elections.
*Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan. Eleven years after the police firing of 14 October 2015, an independent Special Public Prosecutor of standing should be appointed, so that justice is done and seen to be done.
*One measure for mercy. The Union should give effect to its own 2019 decision on Sikh prisoners, including the commutation of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana’s sentence, and decide the other Bandi Singhs’ cases on merit. Haryana should end the revolving door of parole and furlough for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief convicted of raping two of his disciples, who has walked out of jail seventeen times since 2017, often on the eve of elections.
“A unanimous resolution is the voice of Punjab. It is not yet the law of the land,” Mr Sidhu said. “None of these five is partisan. Each asks an authority to do what it alone has the power to do, and each asks of every party nothing more than its conscience. The House has stated Punjab’s case on its waters. It should now state it on justice too.”
