Punjab officer divested of key charge: BBMB sees unprecedented ‘parochial’ division
Punjab officer Akashdeep said he acted according to the BBMB’s manual of operation and maintenance of the Nangal Dam and Nangal channel.
The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) reshuffle triggered following a Punjab officer’s objection to the release of 8,500 cusecs of extra water to Haryana is nothing short of being ‘unprecedented’ in the board’s 60-year history.
Akashdeep Singh, the Punjab officer with the state irrigation department, was removed from the post of director (water regulation) that deals with the flow of water into partner states, including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, with the BBMB, for the first time, seeing parochial division among the officers who are being seen as standing for the ‘cause’ of their states.
In his place, Sanjeev Kumar, an officer of the Haryana irrigation department, has been appointed as the new director (water regulation).
Akashdeep’s removal was followed by transfers of other officials as the Board tried to balance out the representation of partner states. Akashdeep is now posted as director (dam safety).
The BBMB posted Balbir Singh Sinhmar, a Rajasthan government official on deputation in the BBMB, as secretary with additional charge as director security and consultancy. He replaced Surinder Singh Mittal, an executive engineer-level officer from Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited.
The BBMB, which oversees water distribution from the Bhakra, Pong, and Ranjit Sagar dams, was formed under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. The BBMB’s primary function is to regulate water supply and power to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
Never before such a stand-off has occurred, and old-timers, who worked in the BBMB, said there were differences of opinion on several occasions in the past, and the matters were resolved amicably.
According to a retired member (power) Ashok Thapar, who served in BBMB for four years, the board used to function impartially. “The discord between the states is not a good sign for the functioning of BBMB, there are differences, and we in our times also. But they were resolved in the confines of the office, and it never used to get escalated to this level,” he said.
A statutory body constituted under Section 79 and Section 80 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, the BBMB is headed by a chairman and has two whole-time members, designated as a member (irrigation), who as a precedent comes from Haryana and a member (power) from Punjab. As of date, the board chairman officiates the charge as member irrigation and a senior officer from Punjab State Power Corporation Limited is member Power.
Acted as per BBMB manual: Akashdeep
Akashdeep said he acted according to the BBMB’s manual of operation and maintenance of the Nangal Dam and Nangal channel.
“Chapter 6 of the manual defines the duties of regulation officers. It says that the release of water for different states is based on an indent sent by the executive engineer, Bakhra Main Line (BML) in Patiala, who happens to be an engineer of the Punjab irrigation department,” said Akashdeep.
He added that XEN BML sends indent periodically as per the requirement from Haryana, Rajasthan and New Delhi. “Without the indent, water cannot be released and director water regulation cannot deviate from the indent.”
“BBMB pressured me to release water despite objection by Punjab about surplus water being drawn by Haryana. When I refused to act and categorically told the management that I would act as per the indent from XEN BML, I was suddenly removed from the post,” he added, refusing to comment more on the matter.
He said that Punjab had been raising the issue that Haryana had been exhausting its allocated quota for the past few months, and the issue used to be on the meeting agenda of the technical committee.
