Chandigarh/Patiala, May 4 -- A day after the clear-cut directions from the Union home secretary, Punjab hasn't removed the cops deployed at the Nangal Dam. The security detail of Punjab Police was deployed after chief minister Bhagwant Mann's May 1 visit amid an escalating water war between Punjab and Haryana, with minister Harjot Singh Bains claiming to have locked a room at the Nangal dam from where water supply is regulated. Punjab Police, on Saturday, claimed that only essential police cops were deployed at the dam. Ropar Range DIG, HS Bhullar, when asked about the objection raised by the ministry of home affairs, said, "Currently, only required police force, which was there before the incident, is deployed at the Nangal Dam. The security was beefed up as a precautionary measure and VIP movement for only a few days." Bhullar refused to give the exact number of cops deployed but asserted that the minimum required police force was present there. According to sources, at least 25 to 30 policemen including two DSP rank officers, are deployed at the dam and a tent house has been erected by the local Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for holding an indefinite dharna against the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) on the side of the canal. Before this controversy, the number of police personnel was four to five in number. "Till the time we don't get any orders to leave this place, we will stay put," said a cop deployed at the dam, pleading anonymity. On Friday, Union home secretary Govind Mohan, during a high-level meeting in which it was decided that the BBMB will release 4,500 cusecs of extra water (8,500 cusecs in total) from Bhakra dam to Haryana for the next eight days to meet the state's urgent water requirements, asked the Punjab officials to remove the cops immediately. According to the people privy to the matter, the Union home secretary said that deployment of cops at Bhakra headworks at Nangal, to take control of the regulator gates by locking them was unwarranted and could create confrontation. "Over a rather insignificant volume of water, a situation akin to war between two neighbouring states is being created," Punjab officials were told. Following Punjab cops taking control of the regulator gates, the BBMB chairman has again written to the home ministry to deploy CISF personnel to guard the dam. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are partnering states that meet their water requirements from Bhakra and Pong dams managed by the BBMB. The BBMB decides the annual quota of water supply to the three states for a yearly cycle from May 21 to May 21 each year. A fresh row erupted over water sharing between the two neighbouring states, with AAP-ruled Punjab refusing to release more water to BJP-ruled Haryana....