Floods of Neglect: Demanding a Judicial Reckoning for Bhakra’s Betrayal

1. A Time-Bound Judicial Inquiry — Beyond Cosmetic Reviews

The current situation demands more than a narrow review of June’s operational decisions. We demand the immediate constitution of a High-Level Judicial Inquiry, which must be time-bound (e.g., 90 days) and possess the mandate to investigate the entire chain of events leading to the floods.

​The scope of this inquiry must be broad, covering the complete technical and administrative context of the 2025 water management year:

• ​Review of Weather Forecasting and Planning: The inquiry must begin its review right from January 2025. It must examine the long-range weather predictions used by the BBMB, State Water Resources Departments, and the National Disaster Management Authority. Crucially, the responsibility for off-the-mark or inadequate long-range predictions needs to be scrutinized and reviewed.
• Use of Private Forecasts: It must be ascertained why no system exists for incorporating data from credible private weather forecasting agencies, some of which reportedly provided more accurate long-range predictions than official sources. A failure to use all available, accurate data is a failure of due diligence that must be accounted for.
• ​Reservoir Operations and Governance: The inquiry must rigorously investigate the technical decisions made between January and June 2025, particularly regarding the conservative approach to water release during the pre-monsoon depletion period. It must determine whether the denial of water release in early June, despite the high Bhakra reservoir levels and the written warnings from the Punjab government, constituted negligence or a deliberate act that contributed to the subsequent flooding and potential wastage of water into Pakistan.
• ​Fixing Responsibility: The final report must not only establish facts but clearly fix responsibility,  not just on individuals, but on organizational structures that facilitated poor judgment, lack of coordination, or political interference.

2. Absolute Transparency — No More Piecemeal Information

To restore public trust, disclosure must be immediate and complete.

• ​White Paper from Punjab: The Punjab Government must immediately release a detailed White Paper presenting all its internal assessments, IMD advisories, the justification for its water demands, and all correspondence with the BBMB. This document is essential for providing a single, verifiable source of the state’s position.
• Full BBMB Documentation: The BBMB must simultaneously release all minutes, technical reports, and correspondence related to water management and allocation decisions from January 1, 2025, to the end of the monsoon season. Full disclosure is mandatory to clarify the roles and decisions of all partner states and the Central authorities.
• Comprehensive Public Domain Data: The entire process, from initial water demands to final release decisions, and the underlying technical justifications, needs to be comprehensive, transparent, and placed immediately in the public domain. The time for piecemeal information has ended; it only further complicates the issue and masks the truth.

“The time for selective leaks is over. The public deserves the full picture, not fragments.”

3. Structural Integrity & River Preparedness

The inquiry’s mandate must extend beyond the dams themselves to the health of the downstream ecosystem and necessary flood control measures.

• ​Urgent Technical and Safety Audit, Including Deflection: We demand that the government commission a high-stakes technical and safety evaluation of the dams’ structural health by a responsible, independent agency. This must specifically investigate the dam’s deflection profile. The fact that the Bhakra Dam has a history of its structural movement exceeding the permissible 1.03-inch safety margin during periods of high saturation makes the BBMB’s denial of early water release in June doubly irresponsible. The full truth about the dam’s integrity and safety must be known to prevent catastrophic failure in the future.
• Siltation and Dredging Review: An urgent review must be conducted on the critical issue of silt accumulation. The inquiry should clarify why the crucial dredging of the dam was stopped, what the current levels of silt accumulation are, and how this reduction in live storage capacity impacts both flood control strategy and the dam’s overall lifespan. Siltation directly and severely reduces the flood cushion capacity of the reservoirs.
• River Management and Embankments: The inquiry must thoroughly investigate the state of the downstream river systems. This includes the effectiveness of maintenance measures for clearing rivers of obstructions and the routine work for the strengthening of embankments. A flood is a failure of both dam management and river capacity; a failure in either area must be accounted for.

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4. Depoliticize Dam Management

Dam management is a technical and scientific discipline; its operating rules must be transparent, non-negotiable, and free from political influence.

• The fact that critical operational decisions require consensus among competing political stakeholders, as per information available,, effectively politicizes what should be a purely technical and scientific decision. This governance structure must be reformed immediately.
• We Demand that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for reservoir regulation-covering pre-monsoon draw-down, monsoon releases based on accurate forecasting, and emergency protocols-be made public and immediately updated to reflect lessons learned from this year’s flood.
• ​A mechanism for the regular and independent review of these SOPs by a body of external hydrological and structural engineering experts must be institutionalized, ensuring the safety protocol is driven by science, not by state politics or political maneuvering.

“Water release is not politics — it is science. Lives depend on it.”

Conclusion: Accountability or Repetition?

Bhakra and Pong are lifelines for millions. When management of those lifelines is opaque and politicised, the consequences are catastrophic. Punjab’s flooded homes and ruined fields demand more than condolence; they demand a time-bound judicial inquiry, total transparency, and durable institutional reform built on science and public safety.

Call to action: We urge citizens, civil society and media to demand a 90-day judicial probe, immediate release of all documents, and independent dam safety audits. Sign petitions, file RTIs, and press for the White Paper and BBMB disclosures.

The management of the Bhakra and Pong Dams is a matter that affects the life, livelihood, and economy of millions. We demand governance rooted in science, absolute transparency, accountability for past failures, and the definitive prioritization of public safety and the long life of this critical national asset.