The stand-off between Punjab and Haryana over sharing of water intensified on Saturday as an all-party meeting in Haryana asked the AAP government in the neighbouring state to unconditionally release the water from Bhakra dam, and the Punjab government skipped a Bhakra Beas Management Board meeting on the issue. The development came a day after an all-party meeting in Punjab backed the state government's refusal to release more water to BJP-ruled Haryana.
According to news agency PTI, the BBMB regulates water distribution from Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams and decides the annual quota of water supply to the three partnering states – Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan – for a yearly cycle from May 21 to May 21 each year.
The Board called a meeting on Saturday evening to work out the modalities for the release of extra water to Haryana, but the Punjab government sought an adjournment, citing an Assembly session on May 5 to discuss the water row.
After chairing the meeting, Haryana CM Nayab Saini hit out at the Punjab government, saying not following the Board's direction to release water was unconstitutional, inhuman and an attack on the federal structure of the Constitution. He also suggested that the Punjab government's actions were linked to the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi.
Meanwhile, AAP Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj lashed out at CM Saini and said, "God has done justice," claiming that he stopped Delhi's share of water during AAP's government in the city-state.
"I think God has done justice to people like Nayab Singh Saini. This is the same ruthless Haryana government which repeatedly stopped Delhi's share of water, repeatedly released pollutants in that water due to which ammonia increased," Saurabh Bhardwaj said.
Saurabh Bhardwaj also asked CM Saini to apologise to the people of Delhi for "troubling" them.
"First of all, he (CM Saini) should apologise to the people of Delhi because he has troubled them a lot," Bhardwaj said.