The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), one of the country’s most critical water and power management organisations, is operating with less than 40 per cent of its sanctioned employee strength. Severe shortage of manpower is affecting its operations and raising concerns over the maintenance of vital dams, hydropower stations and transmission infrastructure.According to data contained in the BBMB Annual Report 2024-25, the organisation had a sanctioned strength of 12,071 employees, against which only 5,035 employees were in position. This meant that 61.1 per cent of the sanctioned posts were vacant, while BBMB was functioning with just 41.7 per cent of its sanctioned strength at the time.The employee strength has been declining steadily over the years. Employee strength of BBMB, which stood at 7,681 in 2020, had fallen to 5,035 in 2025 and has now declined to around 4,700 following about 300 retirements this year, according to BBMB sources.The shortage is particularly acute in the technical and field wings that are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the organisation’s strategically important assets.Of the 6,882 sanctioned posts in the irrigation wing, only 2,988 employees were in position, leaving 56.6 per cent of posts vacant. Similarly, the power wing had a sanctioned strength of 4,327, against which only 1,611 employees were working. Thus, 62.8 per cent of posts in the power wing were vacant, with the wing operating with only 37.2 per cent of its sanctioned strength.The finance and accounts wing had 456 sanctioned posts, of which 232 were occupied, leaving 49.1 per cent vacancies.The shortage is also reflected in the group-wise figures. Against 2,266 sanctioned Group A and B posts, only 1,233 were occupied, leaving 45.6 per cent vacant. In Group C, only 1,867 of 5,063 posts were filled, resulting in a vacancy rate of 63.1 per cent. Of the 4,742 sanctioned Group D posts, 1,936 were occupied, leaving 59.2 per cent vacant.The manpower crisis is particularly worrying in technical posts. As many as 1,486 technical posts belonging to the Punjab cadre are lying vacant, including 568 posts of foremen. Foremen are crucial for the repair and maintenance of dams, galleries, spillway gates, turbines and high voltage transmission lines.Officials fear such institutional knowledge is being lost rapidly as experienced technicians retire without adequate recruitment of their replacements. Skills acquired over decades in maintaining Bhakra, Pong and other critical installations are not being transferred to a new generation of workers.Meanwhile, Punjab’s plan to tackle its manpower shortage remains stuck. More than seven months after the Punjab Cabinet approved creation of a special BBMB cadre, recruitment rules are yet to be finalised. The state has nearly 2,500 vacant quota posts in BBMB.Irrigation Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal has told The Tribune that the rules for creating the special cadre are currently being framed.The staffing crisis could also have wider operational implications. Sources said that with manpower continuing to shrink, some works currently undertaken by BBMB’s own personnel may have to be outsourced in future.Punjab, which has nearly a 52 per cent share in BBMB, has struggled for almost two decades to fill its employee quota. The resulting vacancies have increasingly been occupied by personnel from other partner states.The continuing depletion of manpower, officials said, is no longer merely a recruitment issue but a challenge to dam safety, maintenance and operational continuity.