Rejecting the “clarification” given by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) with regard to the changes made in the rules for appointment its members, the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha on Monday asked the Board to “clarify in clear words that the permanent whole-time Member (Power) would be from Punjab”; otherwise, be ready to face protests.
“Nowhere in its statement, the BBMB authorities concerned had stated that the prevailing practice with regard to the appointment of the permanent Member (Power) from Punjab would continue and there would be no change in it,” said SSM president Balbir Singh Rajewal.
Rajewal said that the issue raised by SSM was with regard to the appointment of BBBMB’s permanent members and the statement issued by BBMB does not specifically make the position clear in this regard. “Punjab is a major stakeholder in the BBMB and its chairman and one permanent member should be appointed from the state...Punjab could not be compared with other states like Delhi, which has almost zero stakes in BBMB,” he added.
He maintained that BBMB’s statement, that it would treat all partner states as equal, is itself a “big discrimination with the Punjab” for which Bhakra dam was built. “There is no substance in BBMB’s plea that there were no eligibility criteria for the appointment of the members. The appointment of BBMB’s permanent members has been made since 1967 and how it could be possible that these appointments were being made with any eligibility criteria,” he added.
Rajewal declared that as many as 25 farmer unions from Punjab would hold demonstration at all the district headquarters on March 7 to protest against the tweaking of the BBMB rules regarding appointments of the Members and certain other issues such as factual mistakes in the history books of recommended by the Punjab School Education Board for the schools in the state.“Decision to hold such protests was taken at a meeting held by the Unions under the chairmanship of Buta Singh Burjgill and Bogh Singh Mansa,” he added.
Rajewal said that Punjab State Education Board had been treating the school books so casually that even it could not detect the “glaring distortions” in the history books. Besides, there is another matter where a Sikh girl student, wearing a “dastaar” (turban) was not allowed to enter a college in Karnataka. “The dastaar is a part and parcel of life of the Sikhs. By stopping the girl from entering the college, the authorities concerned have hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community,” he added.
Other issues include appointment of DANICS (Delhi, Andeman, Nicobar Island Civil Services) cadre officers in Chandigarh at the cost of Punjab officers. “Chandigarh is a capital of Punjab and no officers belonging to DANICS and DANIPS cadres should be appointed in Chandigarh,” he said adding that the 60:40 patterns between Punjab and Haryana should be maintained while appointing officers and other employees in Chandigarh and filling the vacant posts.
In addition, there was the issue of privatization of power distribution in Chandigarh. “We are strongly opposed to it. Farmers have fought against handing over the Government assets to the corporate houses for more than a year on Delhi borders...SSM is with the Chandigarh Power Department employees on this issue,” he said.
The power distribution could not be privatized in Chandigarh without taking the consent of the Punjab Government because Chandigarh is a capital of Punjab, he said adding that it was not like other Union Territories.