Chandigarh, May 2 (PTI) Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Friday visited the Nangal Dam again and vowed to ensure that no extra water would be released to Haryana.
Bains, who was accompanied by Deputy Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Jai Krishan Singh Rouri, met the Aam Aadmi Party workers and took updates from officials on the current situation, a Punjab government statement said.
On Thursday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann visited the Nangal dam in Rupnagar district, where Bains and party workers staged a ‘dharna’ in protest against the Bhakra Beas Management Board’s (BBMB) decision to give more water to Haryana which was strongly opposed by the Punjab government.
The BBMB regulates water distribution from Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are the partnering states that meet their requirement for different purposes, including irrigation, from Bhakra and Pong dams.
Punjab Police had stepped up security at the Nangal dam, which is situated downstream of the Bhakra dam in Rupnagar district, as part of security review arrangements.
Bains had said they have taken “control” over the Nangal dam and the room from where the water supply is regulated has been locked, and its key given to police.
Mann had said as a humanitarian gesture, the Punjab government already generously allotted 4,000 cusecs of water daily to Haryana from April 6.
He also hit out at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) for its decision to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana (including 4,000 cusecs already been given currently), saying such “robbery” of Punjab’s rights will not be tolerated and that the board has no right to “dictate” matters related to his state.
Bains on Friday asserted that the Punjab Government won’t share a single drop of extra water with Haryana or any other state. He said that the officials posted at BBMB’s Nangal Dam and Nakkian, have been instructed to prevent any excess water from being released to any other states.
“Water is our lifeline, and we’ll fiercely protect it. Despite Bhakra Dam being in our region and canals originating from here, our villages lack access to water. With paddy season approaching, sharing our water with other states is unthinkable”, Bains said.
The Centre has consistently discriminated against Punjab, and now BJP-ruled states are following the suit, he alleged.
Notably, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini-led government has called an all-party meeting here on Saturday to discuss the Punjab government’s refusal to release more water.
The announcement on Friday comes hours after the AAP government in the neighbouring state held a similar meeting that saw parties putting up a united stand on the issue and contemplating calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming days.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who chaired the all-party meeting on the water issue here on Friday, reiterated that his government will not allow the release of more water to the neighbouring state as they had “already used 103 per cent of the allocated water by March”. PTI SUN HIG HIG
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