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Punjab minister locks BBMB chairman at Nangal dam, CM backs brazen act
Despite HC directive to Punjab to stay out of BBMB working, CM joins minister along with Aam Aadmi Party workers in protesting against Bhakra Beas Management Board chairman Manoj Tripathi, saying not a drop of water will be allowed to be released to Haryana.
High drama prevailed at Nangal dam in Rupnagar district on Thursday when Punjab AAP minister Harjot Singh Bains brazenly locked Bhakra Beas Management Board chairman Manoj Tripathi for two hours at the dam’s guest house despite the high court directive to the Aam Aadmi Party government not to interfere in the working of the 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 protesting 50 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers, Bains held the goverment official hostage and announced: “We have locked the 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.”
While Tripathi waited, Bains said he should meet the Punjab CM and other officials in Chandigarh. Soon, Mann arrived amid sloganeering by AAP workers, who have been protesting for the past one week against the BBMB decision to release water to Haryana from Nangal dam. “I won’t allow BBMB officials to release water to Haryana at any cost,” Mann declared, adding “I will come again to Nangal dam to prevent them if the need arises.”
Punjab Police deputy inspector general (DIG), Ropar range, HS Bhullar said that BBMB chairman was safely rescued from the Sutlej Bhawan and had returned to Chandigarh soon after the minister locked him. “The BBMB chairman was rescued and is safe despite people protesting and stopping his way,” Bhullar said.
Asked about action being against the protesters for first locking him and then obstructing his exit, Bhullar said, “The case will be registered under relevant sections according to the complaint. We will identify the people who waylaid his car and book them.”
The BBMB chairman had visited the dam to oversee water regulation after the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday restrained the Punjab government from interfering in the board’s work in Nangal. The court also asked the BBMB to implement the May 2 order of the Union home ministry for releasing more water to Haryana. The home ministry had told the Punjab government to release 4,500 cusecs of surplus water to Haryana for eight days, as was agreed in a BBMB meeting with the partner states on April 23. The court said if Punjab did not agree with the Centre’s decision of providing a total of 8,500 cusecs a day of surplus water as sought by Haryana, then it could approach the Centre.
When contacted, BBMB officials refused to comment on the incident.
Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu, however, demanded that chief minister Mann and minister Harjot Singh Bains should be booked for illegally detaining the BBMB chairman and acting against national interest. “The country is going through a tough period and the CM is worried about his media space,” he said. “The BBMB chairman can go to his office or rest house. Will the chairman himself open or close the gates of the dam? When the matter is already in the high court and Supreme Court and the state assembly has already passed a resolution saying that not a single drop of water will be given to any state, why this drama?” Bittu said.
The board had moved the high court, stating that Punjab Police personnel had forcibly taken control of dam operations following the recent directive to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana and other states. “State of Punjab and any of its functionaries, including police personnel, are restrained from interfering in the day-to-day functioning, operation and regulation of the Bhakra Nangal Dam and Lohand control room water regulation offices managed by BBMB,” the high court said on Wednesday.
A division bench, comprising chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel expressed serious concern over the alleged conduct of the Punjab administration, comparing the situation to actions taken against hostile countries. “We are doing this to our enemy country. Let us not do this within our states,” it remarked during the hearing.
The dispute began on April 23 when Haryana sought 8,500 cusecs of water, 4,500 cusecs more than its usual share, from the Bhakra-Nangal project, citing a severe drinking water shortage in its western districts. Mann rejected the request, and the matter was taken up by the BBMB, which approved Haryana’s request, with member states Rajasthan and Delhi voting in favour. Himachal Pradesh abstained, and Punjab voted against it. Despite the decision, Punjab refused to open additional sluice gates at the Nangal dam, calling the move “unprecedented and forcible.” Haryana, in response, threatened to approach the Supreme Court to enforce its allocation.
