State asks Centre to appoint BBMB chief

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20

With a Haryana officer holding two of the three top posts in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), the Punjab Government has lodged a protest with the Centre, asking it to appoint the Chairman on a regular basis at the earliest.

The post has been lying vacant since September 24, 2015, the day the then Chairman AB Aggarwal was repatriated to his parent organisation, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited.

Haryana’s Irrigation Department Chief Engineer SK Sharma is holding the additional charge of BBMB Chairman. He is also the Member (Irrigation). VK Kalra, Chief Engineer, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, holds the post of Member (Power).

Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are also partners in the BBMB, but they have no regular member on the board. These partner states are represented mostly by the respective Secretary (Irrigation) or Secretary (Power).

Ever since the board’s inception, the post of Member (Irrigation) has been with Haryana and of the Member (Power) with Punjab. The latter has been insisting for the past several years that the Member (Irrigation) should be an officer from Punjab.

The Chairman’s post was advertised in September last year, but it is still vacant due to legal and other hitches, a senior official said.

“At the BBMB meetings, the Centre is represented by a Joint Secretary-level officer of the Union Power Ministry. At every meeting, we have been asking the Central Government to appoint a regular Chairman,” said KS Pannu, Secretary, Irrigation, Punjab.

“We have asked the Centre to hand over the charge of the Chairman to Punjab’s regular member because the state has the largest share in every respect in the BBMB,” said Pannu.

Haryana has already given extension to SK Sharma, who attained the age of superannuation on January 31, till the appointment of the regular Chairman of the BBMB.