Nangal: Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann today said that the state government will raise the issue of restructuring of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) in the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on Saturday. Addressing a rally here, the Chief Minister said that he will raise the issue in the meeting to be chaired by the Prime Minister.
He said that every water agreement should be reviewed after 25 years due to frequent changes in water levels. The Chief Minister expressed regret that the manner in which BBMB has become a party to snatch the rightful share of the state's waters is unfortunate and highly condemnable. He said that Haryana had exhausted its share of water in March this year but BBMB acted like a puppet of the Centre and Haryana governments so that the state's water could be snatched.
He said that this is the same BBMB, which had taken Rs 32 crore from Punjab for its very important projects and has never returned this money. He said that Punjab has a pending debt of about Rs 150 crore (exactly Rs 142 crore) with BBMB and the state government will soon claim for recovery of this money. Three thousand posts of Punjab's quota were deliberately not filled by BBMB so that the state's claim on water could be weakened.
The Chief Minister said that these posts will be filled soon. He said that Punjab has a glorious history of making great sacrifices to protect the 532 km long border with Pakistan. Mann said that this time too Punjabis were at the forefront in giving a befitting reply to the Pakistani army and on the other hand Punjabis have also saved their share of water. Terming BBMB as a white elephant, the Chief Minister said that it is completely useless and unacceptable in its present form.
He said that it is unfair that employees of other states are being paid from the state treasury and they only harm the interests of Punjab. Advocating for Yamuna-Sutlej Link (YSL) instead of Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, the Chief Minister said that the Sutlej river has already dried up and there is no question of sharing even a drop of water from it. He said that instead, the water of Ganga and Yamuna should be supplied to Punjab through Sutlej river. The Chief Minister said that despite being smaller in area, Haryana is getting more water than Punjab and the sad thing is that it is demanding Punjab's share of water. On this occasion, Cabinet Ministers Harjot Singh Bains, Harbhajan Singh ETO, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Dr. Sanjeev Gautam, Mahendra Bhagat, Deepak Soni, Laljit Singh Bhullar and other leaders were present.