Jalandhar, Nawanshahr seek Rs 36 cr for flood control; state gives only Rs 3 cr
A senior administration officer said last year, floods had affected 1 lakh persons, of which around 60% were farmers. He added that the government had provided compensation worth Rs 33 crore
Jalandhar Even as the authorities had prepared and submitted a detailed Rs 35.9 crore proposal to strengthen the Dhussi Bandh on the Sutlej River to avoid a recurrence of floods that lashed the districts in August 2019, the state government has sanctioned Rs 2.9 crore to the Jalandhar division officer, who also looks after Nawanshahr district.
Officers say that this shows that no lessons have been learn from last year’s disaster, when 100 villages had been hit by the floods. Farmers were the worst-hit due to poor maintenance of embankments, with locals even blaming illegal mining for adding to their woes.
A senior administration officer said last year, floods had affected 1 lakh persons, of which around 60% were farmers. He added that the government had provided compensation worth Rs 33 crore to locals, as the district administration estimated that 60,000 acre crop was damaged in Jalandhar.
This year, officials had demanded Rs 16 crore for Jalandhar and the remaining for Nawanshahr. “Due to shortage of funds, repair has not been done properly and material needed not used for several years,” said a government officer on the request of anonymity.
According to the proposed project, sensitive points along the river including Lasara, Meonwal, Mau Sahib, Ismailpur, Jania, Butta ke Shanna village, Shole village, Raipur Ghujja village were where embankments needed to be strengthened.
“The department has spent Rs 80 lakh in Nawanshahr to strengthen some bandhs by sand and stones alongside the river near Tajowal village. The remaining money has been used in Phillaur, Shahkot and Nakodar sub-divisions,” Vijay Kumar Garg, executive engineer and Phagwara drainage division officer, said.
Manjinder Singh, a farmer of Mau Sahib village, who lost his two-acre crop last year, claimed, “The state government must allocate proper money for strengthening of crops, or a common man like us suffers. Last year, the government proved it did not care.”
Last year, water had taken the longest to recede in Shahkot villages. This area alone had seen 25,000 acre of paddy fields completely submerged, with substantial damage at Phillaur and Gidderpindi villages.