Constitutional Adviser to Bikaner continues.......

The interim period was an unsettled period in the administration of the State. It had been very well administered during the time of Maharaja Ganga Singh and his son, Maharaja Sardool Singh. It had employed efficient and able men in all spheres of administration. I was very much impressed with the administrators, but I cannot say the same thing about the politicians. The less said about them the better.

Obviously, they were agitators without the slightest idea of administration, anxious to exercise their newly acquired powers, whether or not such an exercise of power was required.

Apart from advising His Highness and his ministers in these matters I was charged with the duty of bringing about a settlement regarding the supply of water from Bhakra Dam to Bikaner State. From the very inception of the Bhakra Dam scheme, Bikaner had been treated as one of the units that would get the supply of water from it.

The East Panjab Government that came into being after the partition was putting obstacles in the way of Bikaner’s getting waters from the Bhakra Dam. It appeared that during the communal riots of 1947, the Maharaja of Bikaner gave complete protection to his Muslims subjects against the aggression of Hindu and Sikh fanatics. Ganga Nagar which is the granary of Bikaner is mostly inhabited by Sikh agriculturists from the Punjab and they were considerably annoyed by this policy of the Maharaja. They were now influencing the Punjab Government in this matter.

Eventually, at my suggestion, our Chief Engineer, Rai Bahadur Lala Kanwar Sain, who had been connected with the Bhakra Dam scheme from the very start, and His Highness went with me to Delhi.

We interviewed the Prime Minister of India and apprised him of our case on the subject. Panditji became very much interested and went thoroughly into the question.

To be continued....