‘Illegal mining has changed Sutlej’s course’: Congress MP blames AAP Govt for flood tension in Ludhiana

An IAS-officer-turned-politician, Dr Singh also demanded the immediate suspension of officials for “not taking timely action and putting the lives of people at stake”.

The Sahnewal segment, although a part of Ludhiana district, falls under the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha constituency.

For the past four days, villagers, teams from the Indian Army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and local officials have been installing sandbags and stones in Sasrali village on the banks of the Sutlej, with the Ludhiana deputy commissioner also lending a hand. Villagers have been spending sleepless nights guarding the bund overnight. However, on Saturday morning, soil erosion started at the Dhussi bund, with water entering some agricultural fields. Another “ring bund” was then created to stop the waters from entering the village.

On Sunday, the photos of Himanshu Jain, the deputy commissioner, carrying sand sacks and stones at the site and standing in knee-deep muck went viral on social media.

Ludhiana deputy commissioner Himanshu Jain working at Sasrali site with villagers

However, Dr Amar Singh lashed out at the deputy commissioner on Facebook, “DC saab, there’s no use of all this drama of carrying these sacks now. Remember how many days I have been calling you..”

“The DC of Ludhiana, officers of the mining department, irrigation department, and the administration of Ludhiana are directly responsible for the situation that has arisen at Sasrali today. Since the jhaadu party’s government has been formed, illegal mining has been going on with full force, and sand is being extracted by digging 35-35 feet deep pits, but no one is speaking up,” he further wrote.

“The officers of the concerned departments have not only misled the villagers but also lied to me that the situation is under control and there will be no damage. I had spoken to the DC of Ludhiana and said that if there was any need for money, then take it from my quota and get the work done quickly, but they lied in front of the villagers, and today the result is in front of everyone. I have demanded immediate suspension of all these officials and a criminal case should be registered against all of them,” Dr Singh added.

Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “I first visited the site on August 29 and then on September 3. I was given repeated assurances by the DC and other officials that no damage would happen and that they were on the job. However, they let the situation get out of hand, and now the Dhussi bund has nearly eroded. Villagers told me that even the spot where the DC himself was standing yesterday is gone now.”

“The illegal mining has completely changed the course of the Sutlej river. This is the real issue, which they are trying to ignore and hide. I have been asking them how and why the course of the river has started changing. Why are the corrective measures being taken? Installing sandbags is not going to stop the Sutlej now. Even if you throw 5,000-10,000 bags there, it is not going to stop,” he said.

Dr Singh said he had also been a deputy commissioner and that a deputy commissioner’s job is to plan in advance, not on the spot. He said that everyone in the irrigation and mining departments knew that deep mining had happened but did nothing about it. “Farmers are saying that acres and acres of land have been eaten by the Sutlej. How will they survive now? They will only end up dying by suicide. The administration is trying to cover up things now. Will they allot new chunks of land to these farmers?” he said.

Dr Amar Singh’s allegations on illegal sand mining leading to Punjab flooding have come a day after Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan pointed to the issue after visiting flood-hit areas. The AAP Government has denied the allegations, with Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal stating that the floods were a natural disaster and the time was not “right to play politics over it.”

BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, who also visited Sasrali on Saturday, wrote on Facebook, “The sand mafia that flourished under the nose of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has turned the natural calamity into a man-made tragedy. More than 1800 villages are affected, lives of farmers are being ruined, and where did the Rs 200 crore go in the name of repairing Dhussi bunds. This is the question every Punjabi is asking.”

Sasrali was not among vulnerable points: Ludhiana DC

Meanwhile, responding to Dr Singh’s allegations, Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain said to The Indian Express, “So far, we have been successful in preventing Sutej waters from flooding the villages in Ludhiana, and our teams have been deployed at Sasrali since August 16.”

“The district administration extends support to the drainage department to carry out flood prevention work with their technical expertise. We did everything, rather beyond whatever our department guided us. As per them, the river changed its course when the water release from the Bhakra dam suddenly increased. Precipitation recorded has been the highest in many decades. It was a natural calamity which we are fighting with support from villagers, NDRF, Indian Army, etc. Flood prevention works were completed in advance.

“There were several points in Ludhiana—such as Dhulewal, Mattewara, Khera Bet, and Talwandi Naubad, which are traditionally hit by floods—where timely works were carried out and even mock drills were held. Sasrali was not among the vulnerable points. I can only appeal to everyone to cooperate with the administration to prevent unprecedented natural calamity and would not like to indulge in any blame game,” Jain said.

All 23 districts of Punjab have been declared flood-hit by the state government, with at least 43 deaths reported till now.