Release additional 4.5K cusecs water to Hry: Govt to Pb

The Union home ministry on Friday told the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to go ahead with the release of an additional 4500 cusecs of water to Haryana for the next eight days from Saturday despite vehement protests by Punjab.

- Navneet Sharma and Gurpreet Singh Nibber

CHANDIGARH:

The decision came after a meeting chaired by Union Home secretary Govind Mohan, and attended by representatives of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, the four partner states of BBMB, a home ministry spokesperson said. The BBMB, controlled by the Union Jal Shakti ministry, regulates water distribution from the Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams.

The BBMB's technical committee, which has members from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, will meet on Saturday to work out the details of the release of water to Haryana, which currently gets 4000 cusecs. The demand for additional water was raised by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on April 28.