Punjab cabinet withdraws nod to deploy CISF at Bhakra

2021 consent by Cong govt to Centre against state’s interests, resolution against deployment to be brought in assembly session: FM Cheema

- HT Correspondent

Days after the Centre decided to post the Central Industrial Security Force (CASF) at the Bhakra Dam project in the state, the Punjab cabinet on Monday decided to withdraw the consent granted by the previous Congress government for deployment of personnel of the central force.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the state cabinet held here under the chairmanship of chief minister Bhagwant Mann here.

The deployment of CISF personnel at the Bhakra dam project has been a bone of contention between the Centre and the AAP government amid the water-sharing dispute between Punjab and Haryana. A few weeks ago, Punjab government had deployed additional police force at the dam following the Bhakra Beas Management Board's decision to release additional 4,500 cusecs of water for Haryana following a request from the state. BBMB has been seeking CISF deployment at the dam.

Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who briefed the media after the meeting, said the cabinet bemoaned that the Congress government had arbitrarily given the nod to deploy CISF at Bhakra dam through its decision on July 23, 2021. “This anti-state stance was humiliation for the state as the Punjab Police was fully capable of guarding the dams,” he claimed. He said the cabinet withdrew this decision in the larger interests of the state, adding that a resolution against the move to deploy CISF at Bhakra Dam would be brought in the ensuing session of the state assembly.