Chandigarh, July 12 -- The Punjab assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution against the Centre's decision to deploy personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the Bhakra Dam and other hydro projects managed by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), amid heated exchanges between treasury benches and opposition Congress members. The House recommended to the Punjab government to take up the matter with the central government and request the ministries concerned and BBMB not to deploy personnel of the central armed police force at these projects. The resolution was moved by water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal during the special session of the state assembly, and it was taken up for discussion in the House. The deployment of CISF personnel has been a bone of contention between the Centre and the AAP government in the backdrop of the water-sharing dispute between Punjab and Haryana. A few weeks ago, the Punjab government had deployed additional police force at the dam following the BBMB's decision to release additional 4,500 cusecs of water for Haryana following a request from the state. BBMB has been seeking CISF deployment at the dam. Goyal, while introducing the resolution, said the deployment of CISF is not acceptable to Punjab because the installations of the BBMB have been duly protected over the last almost 70 years by Punjab Police, which is well versed with the local conditions and has experience of facing all kinds of situations at the borders also. "The deployment of CISF will increase the unnecessary and avoidable financial burden on Punjab and on other partner states. Punjab is the major contributor to the expenditure of the BBMB. The state will have to bear this additional expenditure also," he said, pegging the additional financial implication for the state due to this deployment at Rs 49.32 crore per annum. According to the resolution, the installations are within the territorial jurisdiction of Punjab or Himachal Pradesh and, therefore, it is their duty to maintain the law and order and also provide security to these installations as per law. The resolution said the state is also maintaining two other dams - Ranjit Sagar Dam and Shahpurkandi Dam - and the security of these dams is more serious than the BBMB installations as these are very near to the international border. The security of these dams is being maintained by the Punjab Police and the State Government, it said. The resolution, while listing the state's objections, said that if BBMB still intends to proceed with the deployment of CISF personnel, Punjab will not bear any financial burden arising from such deployment. Goyal also said that the central government' move was not about the deployment of security, but about taking control over dams. The resolution was passed by the House after a discussion during which chief minister Bhagwant Mann, while calling BBMB a "white elephant," vehemently opposed the Centre's move, stating that the state police is fully capable of providing security at dams. "They have been doing this for the past several decades. We do not need CISF for this," he said. Demanding reconstitution of BBMB, he said that Punjab has 60% share in the board, but it is still working against the interests of the state, including filing cases against the chief secretary and irrigation secretary of the state government. "The deployment of CISF will cost us additional money without serving any purpose. Why should we pay this money to the BBMB when Punjab Police is already ensuring safety of the dam free of cost? If we can safeguard the borders, we can protect the dams too," he stressed. Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who also spoke on the issue, told the House that the state government has withheld Rs 104 crore of BBMB funds over the last nine months due to the absence of any audit of its functioning in the past 70 years. "We have asked the BBMB to conduct an audit," he said, criticising previous governments for continually funding BBMB without safeguarding interests. Questioning the need for incurring an additional annual financial burden of approximately Rs 50 crore on CISF deployment, he said that the state police has commendably managed the security of these installations. During the discussion on the resolution, there were heated exchanges between cabinet minister Aman Arora and Bajwa with the former seeking a motion against the leader of opposition and the Congress members rushing to the well of the House. Bajwa, while calling the official resolution a "welcome step," accused the AAP government of using the assembly as a stage for optics to impress people. He said that they were opposing CISF at dams while continuing to use its services at the Punjab civil secretariat. "This is nothing but optics. For their own security, they have retained the CISF," the LoP said, asking the government whether it would withdraw the force from the secretariat. Arora asked Bajwa if he was comparing the august House with a stage for optics and suggested that a privilege motion should be brought against the LoP for his comments. Countering Bajwa's suggestion, he said that the security at the civil secretariat was under the jurisdiction of Chandigarh administration which is controlled by the central government. Arora and Bajwa also exchanged words over the Centre's decision in 2021 to extend the Border Security Force's jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km along the international border in the state, each blaming the other's party-led government. Arora further pointed out that three out of the four partner states in BBMB had given their consent for the deployment of central forces during Congress-led regimes. At one stage, the Congress members also took offence to Arora's remark and entered the well of the House....