The protest by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers at the Nangal Dam is still going on. They are against the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) for releasing extra water from ਪੰਜਾਬ’s share to Haryana. The protest began on May 1, when ਪੰਜਾਬ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ Bhagwant Mann visited the dam and stopped the release of extra water.
Sources say that the protest will end tomorrow after a political rally in Nangal. ਪੰਜਾਬ CM Bhagwant Mann will speak at the rally, and AAP national leader Arvind Kejriwal is also expected to join.
Meanwhile, BBMB is likely to release the extra water tonight at midnight, based on the decision made by its technical committee last week. The water will be released through the Bhakra mainline canal to ਪੰਜਾਬ, Haryana, and Rajasthan. ਅੱਜ is the last day of the Bhakra Dam’s depletion period (September 20 to May 20), and now the dam will start filling again with snowmelt and monsoon rain.
During the protest, Sanjeev Gautam, chairman of Guru Ravidas Ayurvedic University, praised CM Bhagwant Mann for protecting ਪੰਜਾਬ’s water rights. He said that BBMB has been unfairly using ਪੰਜਾਬ’s water for a long time.
