Timely plugging of three breaches saved Punjab’s Moga from flooding

While many districts along the rivers in Punjab suffered from floods due to Monsoon fury, Moga district managed to limit the damage to a few villages.

Officials said the prompt plugging of three breaches when Sutlej was in spate helped limiting the deluge.

Sutlej flows in the Moga district for a length of about 31 km. Four villages, Pralliwal, Mehruwala, Kambo Khurd and Sanghera, were evacuated as a precaution while neighbouring Jalandhar district’s Shahkot sub-division witnessed flood fury on the other side of the river bank.

The officials claim that in Moga advance flood prevention measures were completed before June, including strengthening of two main embankments and cleaning of drains.

“When Sutlej was in spate, three breaches occurred in Moga district, which the administration managed to plug promptly with the help of the locals limiting the impact,” an official said

Moga deputy commissioner Kulwant Singh said there was a danger of flooding in the villages adjacent to the Sutlej under the Dharamkot constituency.

“The administration strengthened the Giddarpindi embankment of Bhaini village with earthen bags before the start of the Monsoon. Even now, concerted efforts are being made to further strengthen the embankment of village Manjhali. The length of this embankment is about 20 km,” he said.

“Similarly, the 17.7 km-long Bassian drain, 30.18 km-long Chand Bhan drain and 13.10 km-long Badhani drain were also cleaned. All these three drains pass through 90 villages in the Moga district,” he said.

He said that on July 11, 2.70 lakh cusecs of water was flowing in Sutlej. “The water in the river has receded since then, and now only 16,000 cusecs is flowing,” he added.