Chandigarh, May 12 - The Punjab government today filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking review of the May 6 decision. The Punjab government has claimed that the Union Home Secretary is not the competent authority to take any decision under Section 7 of BBMB Rules 1s regarding water, whereas this matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Union Power Ministry. It may be recalled that the Union Home Secretary had held a meeting on May 2 and asked Haryana to provide 4500 cusecs of additional water.
The Punjab government has also argued in the review petition that the Union Home Secretary in his decision had directed to provide additional water to Haryana for eight days, but these eight days have expired by May 10. The biggest point raised is that Haryana had demanded additional water from Punjab citing the repair of the Western Yamuna Canal and now after the repair of the Yamuna Canal, the water has started flowing on May 5. The state government is calling the May 2 decision unauthorized and questions have also been raised on the steps taken by the BBMB. The review petition has said that when the matter of giving additional water to Haryana had gone to the Central Government, then the BBMB itself was not competent to take a decision under Section 7. It has also been said that the resolution of water disputes falls under the jurisdiction of the Water Tribunal, not the BBMB or the Central Government. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had earlier announced that the Punjab government would approach the Supreme Court, but later on the advice of the Advocate General, it was decided to file a review petition.
Release of additional water in the Bhakra Canal is not possible at present!
Chandigarh (Charanjit Bhullar): According to a letter sent to the BBMB by the Superintendent Engineer of the Bhakra Canal, it does not seem possible to release 4500 cusecs of additional water for Haryana in the canal. The supervising engineer argues that the banks of the Bhakra canal have weakened at many places and damage can occur if excess water is released. 
This letter can become a stumbling block during the ongoing conflict between Punjab and Haryana over the issue of providing additional water. The supervising engineer has told the BBMB that additional water should not be released into the Bhakra canal without consulting Punjab as the canal is undergoing repair work. 
It has also been said that if there is any loss of life or property due to the release of additional water, the BBMB will be responsible for it. Following this letter, the BBMB sent a technical team two days ago to review the Bhakra canal. The team has been shown the ongoing work on the Bhakra canal. No reply letter has been received from the BBMB in this regard yet. According to important information, the decisions and work related to providing additional water to Haryana by the BBMB have now started being hidden from Punjab. 
Meanwhile, the demand for canal water has started increasing in Punjab. The current water demand in Punjab has reached 18 thousand cusecs and this demand is likely to double during the paddy season. Apart from this, the period of filling water in dams is also starting from May 21, which will last till September 20 and during this period, water is usually given to the states based on demand.
BBMB calls meeting on May 14
Amidst the water dispute, BBMB has called a meeting of three states on May 14. This meeting of the technical committee will be held in the evening at the BBMB head office in which the chief engineer of the Central Water Commission will also participate. The meeting will discuss the water demand of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in the month of June and based on this demand, BBMB will allocate water for the month of June.