Caught in the crossfire with BBMB, Punjab has raised concerns with the Central Government regarding BBMB’s negligence
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ December 10,2025
Krishan Kumar, principal secretary, Punjab water resources department has taken up the issue of “Choking of Sundernagar- Sutlej Tunnel and Trash Racks of Dehar Power House” with Mohammad Afzal, Joint Secretary Ministry of Power, Government of India after Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) failed to address the concern shown by state government with the Board authorities. Kumar has taken up the mater with Afzal in the beginning of this month. Afzal is also a Govt of India member in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
Earlier, the Punjab water resources department had raised this issue with the BBMB on various occasions. After failed to get any positive response , Punjab has now taken up this serious issue with Ministry of Power.
As per sources, “BBMB has violated the norms in removing the silt from the chocked area and passed through the machines which will damage them in the long run.”
“Punjab gets 51.8 percent share (after deduct from share of RRVPNL) of power from Bhakra, Dehar, Pong Dams. Due to shutting of Dehar dam, Punjab lost its Power share”
A senior officer on the condition of anonymity said ,” In a letter to Mohammad Afzal, Joint Secretary Ministry of Power, Government of India, Krishan Kumar has drawn his attention towards the serious operational mismanagement by the BBMB authorities which has directly resulted in the choking of the Sundernagar-Sutlej Tunnel and various components of Dehar Power House such as trash racks, penstocks, butterfly valves and associated systems due to which generation loss of power in the Dehar power House project for the period May to September 2025 was reported. On 3-4 occasions, the BSL Project had to be closed owing to excessive silt, which further contributed to the loss. As per available information the total generation loss if power is about Rs.227 crores. In addition, the peaking loss has also been assessed at around Rs.233 crores.
In August this year, Punjab water resources department has taken up the matter with the BBMB authorities on the of diverting of water. Kumar raised the question “Beas-Satluj Link (BSL) Project was conceived to divert 8,500 cusecs of water from the River Beas to the River Satluj. This diverted water is utilized to generate electricity at the Dehar Power House and subsequently contributes to storage at the Bhakra Dam. However, due to mismanagement of dredging operations over the past two years, excessive silt has got deposited in the Balancing Reservoir. This has severely compromised the capacity and functionality, directly hampering the optimal operation of the BSL Project. Due to this technical faults and poor maintenance, planning of Generators at Dehar Power House, 3 out of the 6 units at Dehar Power House remained non-operational until June 2025, which significantly reduced the generation and diversion capacity during a critical period. This operational failure has directly contributed to substantial losses in both power generation and water management.”
Krishan Kumat had highlighted in the past that“Due to this lapse it caused a critical operational breakdown which will severely curtail power generation from the Dehar Power House, resulting in substantial financial losses to the State of Punjab as well as other partner States. Moreover this operational failure not only contribute to the substantial loss in Power Generation but will also affected the supply of water to the Partner States from the project as well as the drinking water supply to nearby residential areas.
Lodging his resentment, Kumar added” The State of Punjab has, on multiple occasions, raised concerns with the, BBMB regarding inadequate dredging operations, which have led to excessive silt accumulation in the Sundernagar Balancing Reservoir. However, no corrective action seems to have been taken, culminating in the present crisis.”
“It is further brought to your notice that in recent time BBMB has consistently posted certain inexperienced personnel at several critical operational positions responsible for sensitive assignments. One such example is the posting of an Executive Engineer at the crucial Slapper, HP position, where the present lapse occurred. It has also been observed that whenever a crisis emerges, BBMB subsequently places officers from Punjab in such posts, seemingly to deflect accountability. The same pattern has been followed in the current instance, wherein an Executive Engineer from Punjab has been assigned additional charge after the incident-an apparent attempt to shift the responsibility onto Punjab” pointed Kumar in his official letter to Afzal.
“A similar instance occurred earlier this year as well, when BBMB removed a Punjab officer from the post of Director/Water Regulation and replaced him with an officer from Haryana, due to which Punjab faced significant difficulties in securing requisite water supplies. In view of the above, the Ministry is requested to issue appropriate directions to the Chairman, BBMB to furnish a comprehensive report on this failure and to identify and fix responsibility for the operational lapses that have culminated in this serious disruption. Timely corrective action is essential to safeguard the interests of all partner States”.
Kumar demanded an independent and time- bound audit of the BSL Project and Dehar Power House operations be conducted, covering the period from the 2023 filling season to date, to assess systemic deficiencies and prevent recurrence of such failures.
When contacted the member irrigation, BBMB, Bijendra Singh Nara, he said “there is no chocking issue, problem in the Sundernagar- Sutlej Tunnel and everything is fine. The plant is functioning normal and generating power.”
