NEW DELHI — In a major victory for administrative fairness, the central government has proposed expanding the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to ensure the state providing nearly two-thirds of its resources no longer has a controlling interest.

The new mandate would increase the board's whole-time members from two to four, granting permanent decision-making seats to Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Ministry officials confirmed the 2025 expansion is designed to correct a long-standing historical injustice: that Punjab, which contributes 58 to 60 percent of the board's water and power allocations while bearing significant operational costs, currently enjoys a commensurate level of influence over its own resources.

"You cannot have true equity when the people footing the bill get to make the decisions," a ministry spokesperson said Tuesday. "This expansion builds perfectly on our successful 2022 initiative, where we removed domicile requirements for board appointments to begin systematically diluting the authority of the states actually doing the work."

Officials noted that by elevating beneficiary states to equal decision-making status, the Centre can successfully centralize control over critical water and power infrastructure while publicly celebrating diversity.

When asked how future operational costs would be divided among the four newly equal partners, officials clarified that Punjab's 60 percent financial and resource obligation would remain fully intact to ensure the board's stability.