Punjab, Bhakra board face off: CM Bhagwant Mann draws flak for questioning farmers' absence

Time of India

13-05-2025

BATHINDA: The farmer organisations and environmentalists, mainly those raising their voices against the contamination of Buddha Nullah, have expressed their anger over the outbursts of
aimed at the farming community of Punjab.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
The farmer organisations stated that the CM, through his outbursts, had shown his 'dislike' for the farmers and other activists who were fighting for the farming community and the water issues concerning the state.
Mann, while addressing the protesters outside the office of the
(MBMB) at Nangal on Sunday, said: 'Where are the farmer organisations now? They have not issued even a single statement for saving the water of Punjab, but we are not bothered, we will fight alone."
Mann had made it clear that their (farmers) thinking was limited to holding sit-ins and disrupting the highways. 'They should have come here, but we have no need of them. They should come to us tomorrow; we are saving the water for their fields. They used to call themselves saviours of water, but where are the so-called saviours of water?' the CM asked.
'Sometimes they used to sit at Buddha Nullah and sometimes at other places.
Now,they will also have to face opposition. It will not be me (Mann), but the public will oppose them. People will come to know who stands where in this fight for Punjab waters,' Mann had added.
He also said the farmers did not visit the protest site here as there were no air-conditioned trolleys (trailers). 'Without AC, it is tough for them; this needs to be highlighted,' he added.
Reacting to the CM's outbursts, Kirti Kisan Union leader Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala said: 'We held protests against the Dam Safety Act and against the BBMB in 2022, but the AAP govt did not take the Dam Safety Act seriously and now, Punjab is paying the price for it."
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarvan Singh Pandher said: 'Farmers do not botherabout holding protests under the scorching sun in the summers or chilly winter nights for their rights, and using AC is not a sin as the CM too remains in the AC all the time. We regularly raise the water issue. The CM is misleading the public.'
The Public Action Committee (PAC) Mattewara – a pro-environment organisation, in a sharp rebuttal to the CM's comments against Budda Dariya activists exposed his govt's 'hypocrisy and negligence'.
The committee representatives stated: 'The CM has questioned our absence from the dharna site at Nangal. He also asked why we did not issue a statement on the issue. He (Mann) is lying. We have many times issued statements in support of the right of Punjab on its waters. Also, it is surprising as to why the CM expects activists and farmers to help him in his dharna when they are busy fixing problems created by him.'
'Our team is fighting multiple NGT cases against the Govt of Punjab, including those of illegal common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) and reverse boring by a distillery.
The CM and his govt are not following even the NGT orders to shut the illegal CETPs. He has not ordered the permanent closure of a distillery despite its clear indictment by the Central Pollution Control Board for reverse boring polluted effluent into the groundwater.
We don't have time for photo ops. We are fixing the mess this govt has created,' said committee members Amandeep Bains, Col J S Gill(retd), Kuldeep Singh Khaira, Kapil Dev, and Jaskirat Singh.
The committee also took note of a post on social media by Mann on Saturday that the Rajasthan govt demanded water from Punjab's quota for the drinking needs of personnel from the defence forces who were on duty for national security.
'Whenever it is for national interest, Punjab never lags behind,' they said.
The committee said the water through the Indira Gandhi canal goes via Satluj, mixed with effluents of Buddha Dariya. So, Punjab has provided heavily polluted water to our armed forces for their drinking water needs, which contains chemicals from dyeing and electroplating industries of Ludhiana, they added.