It has been more than seven months since the Punjab Cabinet approved the creation of a special cadre to fill the state’s vacancies in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). However, the recruitment process remains stuck in bureaucratic delays, raising concerns over the functioning of one of the country’s most critical water and power management organisations.With only a few months left in the tenure of the AAP government, the slow movement on the proposal has cast doubts over whether Punjab will be able to fill its nearly 2,500 vacant quota posts in BBMB before the end of its term.Punjab’s Irrigation Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal, when contacted on phone, said that rules for creating the special BBMB cadre were currently being framed. “A meeting will soon be held by the Chief Secretary to expedite the recruitment process for BBMB,” Goyal said.According to sources, the Punjab Cabinet had approved filling around 2,500 vacant Punjab quota posts last year. Following this, Irrigation Department obtained approval from Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to undertake recruitment. However, the process has remained stalled as the government is yet to finalise recruitment rules for the new cadre.Sources said the government plans to fill part of the BBMB posts by diverting surplus employees from various Punjab departments, while the remaining posts will be filled through direct recruitment.The prolonged delay has aggravated an already severe manpower shortage in BBMB, particularly in technical positions responsible for maintaining dams, hydropower stations and transmission infrastructure.At present, 1,486 technical posts of the Punjab cadre are vacant in BBMB, accounting for nearly 45 per cent of the sanctioned technical strength of 3,297 employees. These include 568 foremen, who play a crucial role in the repair and maintenance of Bhakra Dam, dam galleries, spillway gates, turbines and high-voltage transmission lines.The staffing crisis is expected to worsen further as around 330 employees are due to retire in the coming months.Punjab holds nearly a 52 per cent share in BBMB and is entitled to a corresponding share of employees deployed across the organisation’s projects spread across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, for nearly two decades, the state has failed to fill its quota of posts as employees from the irrigation and power departments were reluctant to serve in BBMB and frequently sought transfers back to the state.The proposed special BBMB cadre was conceived to address this problem. Employees recruited under the cadre would be appointed exclusively for BBMB and would not be eligible for transfers back to Punjab departments, ensuring continuity in the organisation.Because Punjab failed to post its own personnel, vacancies were increasingly filled by employees from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Haryana, in fact, created a dedicated BBMB cadre nearly five years ago and has since been recruiting employees specifically for the organisation.Officials believe that creating the dedicated cadre will not only address the persistent staff shortage but also strengthen Punjab’s institutional representation in the organisation. BBMB manages the waters of the Sutlej and Beas rivers and operates some of the region’s most important hydropower and irrigation infrastructure.However, the proposal remains caught in bureaucratic delays, even as BBMB continues to struggle with an acute shortage of technical manpower critical to the maintenance and safe operation of its strategic assets.