Pb minister locks up BBMB chairman

High drama prevailed at Nangal dam in Rupnagar district on Thursday when Punjab minister Harjot Singh Bains locked Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) chairman Manoj Tripathi in the dam's guest house despite a Punjab and Haryana high court directive to Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party government not to interfere in the working of BBMB.

- Karam Prakash and Gurpreet Singh Nibber

PATIALA/CHANDIGARH: High drama prevailed at Nangal dam in Rupnagar district on Thursday when Punjab minister Harjot Singh Bains locked Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) chairman Manoj Tripathi in the dam's guest house despite a Punjab and Haryana high court directive to Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party government not to interfere in the working of BBMB. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann also rushed to the dam and declared BBMB officials would not be allowed to release water to Haryana.

Accompanied by around 50 supporters, Bains announced: "We have locked BBMB chairman inside Sutlej Bhawan (the dam's guest house) as he came here to attempt to release water from the Nangal dam to Haryana. When Punjab is struggling with ongoing Indo-Pakistan tensions at the border, the BBMB chairman is making such an attempt. He should be booked for treason."