BBMB full board meeting today

A meeting of the full board of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is scheduled to be held at Chandigarh on Friday. Sources said issues such as deployment of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the BBMB and payment of wages to employees from different states were likely to be taken up at the meeting.

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Though the BBMB full board, in a decision taken in 2021, had proposed to deploy the CISF in the organisation, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann has now opposed it.

The Union Home Ministry recently approved deployment of 296 CISF personnel in the BBMB and asked the organisation to deposit Rs 7 crore as charges in that regard. The CISF is supposed to replace the Himachal and Punjab Police personnel presently deployed to guard vital installations. Punjab would oppose the CISF deployment and seek review of the 2021 decision, sources said.

The BBMB has employees from the partner states Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal. They get an option to claim pay scales of any of the partner states. All of them have opted for the pay scales of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) as these are the highest among all partner states.

Now, the Punjab Government would demand that the employees serving in the BBMB should get pay scales of their parent states rather than being allowed to opt for the PSPCL scales. Sharing of water from Bhakra and Pong dams would also be taken up, sources added.