Brewing for over a fortnight, the ongoing feud between Punjab and Haryana over river water sharing, shows no sign of abating with Punjab not allowing BBMB to release water from Bhakra Nangal Dam, despite HC’s directive not to interfere with board’s functioning. A report by Rajesh Moudgil
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on May 9, last, pointedly held that prima facie a case of contempt was made out against Punjab as the state did not comply with its order directing it not to interfere in the working of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel, however, also held that judicial directions, whether right or wrong, were binding until stayed or set aside.
The case stemmed from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled Punjab’s refusal to comply with the BBMB directive to release an additional 4,500 cusecs of water to the BJP-ruled Haryana and the subsequent confinement of the BBMB chairman by an AAP minister and workers so as to stop him from releasing water to Haryana from Nangal Dam, Rupnagar.
The BBMB chairman Manoj Tripathi was brazenly locked for over two hours by a group of party workers led by AAP minister Harjot Singh Bains in the Nangal Dam’s Sutlej Bhawan guest house, district Rupnagar, on May 8, last, despite the HC directive to the AAP government not to interfere in the working of BBMB.
Bains minced no words in declaring that they had locked the BBMB chairman inside the guest house as the latter had come to release the water from the dam to Haryana. He went on to say that while Punjab was struggling with the ongoing Indo-Pakistan tension, the BBMB chairman was making such an attempt and should be booked for treason. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann who had also rushed to Nangal, held that he will not allow BBMB officials to release water to Haryana at any cost.
Earlier, on May 5, the Punjab in a hurriedly-called assembly session passed a resolution unanimously vowing not to spare even a drop of water from its share for Haryana.
It was subsequent to the said conflict between Haryana and Punjab when BBMB decided to release more water to Haryana despite Mann’s strong objections to it.
The Punjab government refused to release extra water, claiming that Haryana had already exhausted 103% of its annual allocated share of water, while Haryana held Punjab indulged in “dirty politics” by twisting the facts.
Reading out the resolution, the Punjab water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said that BJP had been trying to take away the rights of Punjab through BBMB which has become a mere puppet of the BJP government at the Centre.
The resolution also said that a network of canals and water courses has been built on a large scale since the AAP government took over in 2022. Until 2021, only 22% of Punjab’s fields received canal water while today 60% are covered, therefore, every drop of Punjab’s water has become precious and it no longer has spare water to give to any other state, he added.
Stating that Haryana with its about 3 crore population needs only 1,700 cusecs of water to meet all drinking and other human needs, Goyal held that now Haryana demands 8,500 cusecs of water while Punjab does not have extra water to meet its demand.
On May 2, Punjab in its all-party meet, put up a united show deciding that the state has no water to spare for Haryana and took a unanimous stand that any bid to force Punjab to give extra water to Haryana will be opposed. Haryana also held an all-party meeting on May 3, which condemned the Punjab government for what they held as its “unconstitutional’ actions.
Meanwhile, as the matter had reached the Centre, it advised the Punjab government to implement the BBMB decision to release 4,500 cusecs of water to Haryana for the next eight days.
For record, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan get their water share from Bhakra and Pong dams managed by BBMB which decides the annual quota for the trio states from May 21 to May 21, every year; the fresh row on the water sharing comes alongside the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, which has already been brewing between Punjab and Haryana for the past several decades.
