‘Flagged weak points in bundh, no action taken’: Farmer after Modi meet in Punjab’s Gurdaspur

Among the farmers, labourers and flood victims who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab’s Gurdaspur, Tuesday, was an Ajnala farmer who blamed illegal mining for Dhussi bundh’s breach that flooded major parts of Amritsar.

Gurbhej Singh, from Ajnala’s Ghonewala village, told The Indian Express that the floods devastated about 50 acres of his family’s farmland. This included roughly “40 acres of sugarcane” and “10 acres of paddy”, with the family’s cumulative loss of “over `1 crore”, he said. Most of the land is ancestral, with some acreage on lease, he said, adding that the damage also extended across the village and neighboring areas.
Gurbhej told PM Modi that no soil had been put on the bundhs for 10 years. “There was illegal mining in the river that led to heavy vehicle movement… weakening bundhs and contributing to breaches,” said Gurbhej. He asserted that repeated truck traffic along the river “made the bundhs slip”.

Villagers had flagged the weak points, Gurbhej said, adding that no action was taken to repair the bundhs. “One month before the floods, we told the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner, Sakshi Sawhney… about these weak spots on the bundh.” The bundhs later breached exactly where weak points were flagged, he said.

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“Either DC didn’t have the budget or there was some laxity on the part of the government,” the Ajnala farmer said.

Gurbhej said, “PM also told us that he would get it investigated why the Punjab farmers were not given the compensation after the 2023 floods that the central government had sent to the state government.”