Breach in dhusi bundh widens, 40k acres of farmland inundated in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district

TARN TARAN

The 100-feet wide breach in the dhusi bundh along the Sutlej near Gharum village in Tarn Taran widened to around 150 feet on Sunday even as 1.94 lakh cusecs of water was released from Harike headworks, the confluence of Beas and Sutlej rivers, down from 2.4 lakh cusecs on Saturday, officials familiar with the matter said.

Around 150 villages in Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Rupnagar, Ferozepur and Fazilka have been impacted following the release of excess water from the Pong and the Bhakra dams on August 14. The water level in Beas and Sutlej had risen, flooding the low-lying areas and also which are located near the banks, said officials.

The water receded at many flood-hit areas across the state even as rescue and relief operations by teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), army and Border Security Force (BSF) continued on Sunday, officials said.

The Tarn Taran district administration started the work to plug the dhusi bundh breach and it is expected to take 10 days to complete the task, officials said. The breach near Gharum village, which occurred on Saturday afternoon, had forced the people of around 30 villages to take shelter on rooftops, roads, relief camps and even tractor-trailers. The breach in the bundh has already inundated around 40,000 acres of farmland and hundreds of houses in the district.

The villages which were impacted with the breach include Gharum, Sabhran, Kuttiwala, Dumniwala, Seeto, Jhugian, Gudaike, Radhalke, Booh and Booh Hathar. Houses in these villages have been submerged in around 8-foot of water and the standing crops in field have been damaged, said officials.

Deputy commissioner (DC) Baldeep Kaur said: “Many people are still spending nights on roads in tractor-trailers. We request them to come to the relief centres where adequate arrangements have been made. Some people have kept their belongings on rooftops. We have provided them tarpaulins. We have constituted 12 medical teams for providing medical aid to the affected people.”

On plugging of the breach, she said, “We have hired two contractors and work to plug the bundh from both the sides have started. We have asked the drainage department to provide us adequate material to plug the bundh. The work is in full progress and the breach will be plugged within 10 days.”

Farmer feared drowned, 25 villages flooded in Fazilka

Ferozepur: A 60-year-old farmer is feared drowned while farmland in 25 villages has been submerged in floodwaters in Fazilka on Sunday.

The farmer, identified as Jang Singh of Chak Tahliwala village was swept away in the floodwaters near the BSF checkpost, said officials, adding that teams are trying to locate him. Two companies of the NDRF evacuated 436 people from the flood-affected villages on Sunday.

“A team led by district administration has set up a five-foot high embankment near the 2,200 meters long fencing along the Indo-Pak border which saved thousands of people to get drowned,” said Senu Duggal, deputy commissioner, Fazilka.

In a respite for residents of Ferozepur, water from 40 villages marooned villages has started receding but several border out posts (BoP) of the BSF, besides a large area of the National Martyr Memorial is still under water, said officials.

Following release of 2.82 lakh cusecs of water from the Hussainiwala headworks on Saturday evening, 13 villages situated along the Sutlej near the Indo-Pak border in Fazilka have been cut off from the mainland as the only bridge at Kawanwali village got submerged on Sunday morning.

Crop over 17,000 acres in Teja Ruhela, Chak Ruhela, Muhaar Jamsheer, Dona Nanaka, Mahatma Nagar, Kawanwali, Sandy Sister, Gudar Sister, Jhangar Sister and Dhani Sadda Singh has been damaged while farmland in more than 10 villages under Jalalabad in Fazilka also got submerged, said officials.

“Three companies of the NDRF evacuated villagers, including a few newborns and their mothers in 15 boats, stationed in the villages flooded near Hussainiwala. A total of 50 boats are being used to ferry people to safer places in Ferozepur district,” said Ferozepur deputy commissioner Rajesh Dhiman.

Meanwhile, 15 border outposts under Ferozepur remained submerged. “Despite all the challenges and adversity, our jawans are maintaining 24-hour vigil. They are manning the area without caring about their personal safety,” said a BSF official.

“Surveillance has been heightened with the help of motorboats to prevent potential adversaries from exploiting the situation. Though the BSF posts have been submerged, personnel are performing their duty without any breaks,” the official added.

The area near the National Martyr Memorial at Hussainiwala remained under water while the ‘samdhi’ of Mata Vidhyawati (mother of Shaheed Bhagat Singh) is also inundated.