Bhakra Dam Board Files Plea in High Court Against Punjab

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) on Monday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court against the Punjab government, strongly objecting to police deployment at the Nangal dam and calling it illegal and unconstitutional.

- Aneesha Sareen Kumar

BBMB—controlled by the Union power ministry and which regulates water distribution from the Bhakra, Nangal, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams—said that the uncalled-for security was hampering the working of the board and sought the court's intervention in the ongoing dispute over Punjab's refusal to release water to Haryana.

The court issued notices to Punjab, Haryana and BBMB, and will continue hearing the petition on Tuesday.

"This action of the state of Punjab is wholly unconstitutional and illegal and amounts to direct infringement/interference in statutory functioning of the board of the petitioner, which is performing a function of national importance, which is sovereign in nature," the plea said.

The developments-which came on a day Punjab passed a resolution saying not a single drop of water will be given from its share mark the latest twist in the controversy that began on April 28, when Haryana demanded 8,500 cusecs of water from the Bhakra dam but was turned down by Punjab.

Last Wednesday, BBMB-set up by the Union power ministry in 1966 under section 79 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act decided to allocate a total of 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana from the Bhakra dam. Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party government refused to accept BBMB's decision and stopped the release of water early on Thursday at the Nangal dam, 13km downstream from Bhakra, and deployed police to guard the dam. On Friday, the Union home ministry told BBMB to go ahead with the release of water to Haryana for the next eight days from Saturday. The decision came after a meeting chaired by Union home secretary Govind Mohan, and attended by representatives of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, the four partner states of BBMB.