Chandigarh: Accusing the Bhakra-Beas Management Board (BBMB) of trying to release additional river water to BJP-ruled Haryana, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday again visited Nangal Dam in Rupnagar district where the party workers also held a “dharna’’ against the BBMB.
It may be recalled that Haryana and Punjab have been at loggerheads for about a fortnight over the issue of river water-sharing after 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.
Addressing newspersons and AAP workers at Nangal on Sunday, Mann held that it is unfortunate that on one hand Punjab is bravely confronting the enemy on the international borders and on the other hand the BJP government at Centre is playing dirty games to deprive state of its waters. It was the third time he had visited Nangal in the past fortnight.
Mann said that the Punjab government is committed to protect the border and even the waters of the state for which no stone will be left unturned by the Punjab government. He also questioned the silence of the farm unions over this issue adding that they have not even issued a single statement in this regard.
He warned BJP and BBMB that any such attempt by them can create a major law and order problem in the state adding that both of them will be responsible for this major loss. He categorically said that there is no order by the Punjab and Haryana High court to release the water from the state but BJP is illegally trying to snatch waters from Punjab.
BBMB CHAIRMAN WAS LOCKED AT DAM ON MAY 8
It may be recalled that 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 had 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.
Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also asked the Punjab chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) to identify the officials involved in the alleged non-compliance of its directions restraining interference in the Bhakra Nangal Dam and Lohand control room operations.
