Panjab Defies Court Orders on Water Release to Haryana; Offers Water to Military

On 7 May, as Panjab geared up to protect itself from external hostilities, the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC) restrained the Panjab government and its police force from interfering with the operations of the Bhakra Nangal Dam, which is under the jurisdiction of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) which is under union govt, not state. BBMB had alleged that Panjab Police had forcibly taken control of dam operations following a directive to release 8.5K cusecs of water to Haryana and other states. A division bench comprising PHHC Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel expressed serious concern over the conduct of the Panjab administration, comparing the situation to actions taken against Pakistan through abeyance of the Indus Water Treaty. 'We are doing this to our enemy country. Let us not do this within our states.' The bench said if Panjab disagrees with any decisions taken by BBMB, it should approach the union govt. under the provisions of the BBMB rules. The judges noted that no such representation had been made by the Panjab govt. so far. On 8 May, Panjab minister Harjot Singh Bains locked BBMB Chairman Manoj Tripathi for two hours at the dam’s guest house and stopped him from releasing the water additional 4.5K cusecs of water to Haryana. Panjab has already agreed to release 4K cusecs of drinking water on humanitarian grounds. Panjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann also rushed to Nangal. When contacted, BBMB officials refused to comment on the incident. However, on 10 May Mann ordered release of additional water to Rajasthan to cater to the needs of the Army. In a statement, Mann said Rajasthan govt. had sought more water from the quota of Panjab as the military deployed on the Rajasthan border needed additional water. On 11 May, Mann said in a post: ‘on the one hand Panjab is standing to defend its borders, on the other Haryana is operating on provocation by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) union govt.’ This indeed raises a question on BJP’s ‘nationalist’ claims (earlier coverage).