CHANDIGARH: A day after the BJP-led Union Government advised the AAP-led Punjab Government to implement the Bhakra Beas Management Board’s (BBMB) order to release an additional 4,500 cusecs of water from the Bhakra Dam to Haryana over the next eight days to meet the urgent water needs of the state, Punjab did not participate in the BBMB meeting held today. Instead, it sent a letter requesting that the meeting be postponed.
Sources said that in the letter to the BBMB chairman, the state government stated that a special session of the Punjab Assembly has been convened on Monday (May 5), during which the BBMB's decision to allocate 4,500 cusecs of additional water to Haryana would be discussed. As such, it could not participate in the meeting.
The officials of the state government are currently preoccupied with preparations for the assembly session.
The Water Resources Department further stated that a seven-day notice is mandatory before convening a BBMB meeting, as per Section 7 of the 1976 Regulations, and demanded adherence to proper procedures.
"It is respectfully requested that the meeting may kindly be adjourned. The Punjab government has called a special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on May 5 amid the water-sharing dispute with Haryana," the letter read.
The state government also pointed out that, as per BBMB regulations, a notice of no less than seven days is required for holding a special meeting.
"Subsequently, another notice was issued on April 29 for the April 30 meeting. In both cases, the provisions of Regulation 3 of the 1976 Regulations were not followed. Under the circumstances, the decisions taken in both meetings are therefore not in accordance with the law. It is requested that the meeting proposed on May 3 be adjourned," the letter added.
Meanwhile, in a meeting held yesterday in Delhi and headed by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, the Punjab Government was advised to release the water.
Punjab Water Resources and Soil and Water Conservation Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said that the Punjab Government boycotted the BBMB meeting.
Terming the meeting completely unconstitutional and illegal, Goyal said that proper protocols had been violated in the scheduling of the 255th Special Meeting. "Under Regulation 3 of the 1976 Regulations, a seven-day notice is mandatory before scheduling a BBMB meeting," he said.
Goyal pointed out that the recent BBMB meetings held on April 28 and April 30 were also convened without adhering to the mandatory notice period. Notices for these meetings were issued merely a day before the scheduled dates—on April 27 and April 29, respectively—rendering any decisions taken during these meetings legally questionable.
The BBMB regulates water distribution from the Bhakra, Pong, and Ranjit Sagar dams. Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan are the partner states that meet their requirements for various purposes, including irrigation, from the Bhakra and Pong dams.
The board decides the annual quota of water supply to the three partner states—Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan—for a yearly cycle from May 21 to May 21 each year.
