Chandigarh, May 16 -- Former BBMB members say differences between states were resolved at meetings and never got escalated to level that politicians would cry hoarse in public.

For the first time since its inception six decades ago, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) finds itself in the crosshairs of an unseemly water-sharing dispute between partner states Punjab and Haryana, ruled by political rivals.

The controversy began on April 30 when the BBMB accepted Haryana's request for the release of a surplus 4,500 cusecs of water daily from the Bhakra-Nangal dam to which Punjab objected, saying the neighbouring state had exhausted its allocated share. Three of the BBMB's member states, BJP-ruled Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, voted in f...