What worsened Punjab’s flood crisis: ‘delayed’ desilting plan, legal hurdles

On June 9, Punjab floated tenders for desilting of sand from the Sutlej river near Ismailpur block in Jalandhar, inviting contractors to remove the sand and sell it in the open market at a reserve price of Rs 4.50 per cubic foot after paying a royalty of Rs 2.5 to the government. Before the tenders could be allotted, a PIL was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 25, seeking a stay on the silting, citing that environmental clearance was not sought for the same.

Even though the high court did not grant a stay on the desilting process, the Department of Water Resources, Mining, and Geology informed the court on August 1 that it would not finalise the e-tendering process. This applied not only to the single tender challenged in court but also to nine other tenders issued for desilting the Sutlej river at various locations. Less than a month later, on August 17, floods began ravaging the state.

The department had planned the sale of tenders to start on June 9, with the closing date set for June 30. A pre-bid meeting was scheduled for June 17, and the opening of the financial bids was to take place on June 30. The allotment of the tenders would have taken at least another week. Also, the state’s schedule outlined that one project was to be completed in 210 days, the second in 221 days, the third in 267 days, and the fourth in 309 days.

Had the government allowed the tender on July 7, the desilting work at the first place near Ismailpur block on Sutlej in Jalandhar would have been completed on February 3, 2026, (the work was to be completed in 210 days). The second work would have been completed on February 14, 2026, and so on.

The slit assessed at these four locations was measured at 1,67,97,959 cubic feet, 1,76,80,903 cubic feet, 2,13,72,147 cubic feet, and 2,47,11,297 cubic feet.

‘The government did not push its side in court’

“The volume (of slit) was so much. However, the department woke up to floating the tenders only in the month of June. This should have been done in the previous year. The last floods took place in 2023. They could not desist even in two years after that,” said a senior government official, privy to the developments.

He added that even if the PIL had not been filed, the silt would have remained where it was, even during the peak monsoon. “To cap it all, they chose to give in to the PIL and said they would not finalise the tender process. The government has the wherewithal; It has access to legal experts. It did not even try to push its side of the story in the court,” said the official.

“The assessment and other procedures took a long time, so we were unable to complete it. Then the matter became entangled in the high court. We have our own challenges. Had the silted sand entered the market, the supply would have been excessive, which would have affected the price of the commodity. The sand mafia did not want this to happen,” he added.

Too many challenges, says minister

Meanwhile, Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said they had followed the guidelines of the Ministry of Environment.

“We studied that the river embankments were meandering. We wanted to straighten these embankments. Due to silt, the rivers change course as creeks form near the embankments. But we could not do it because the matter got caught up in the high court. If that silt was removed as we had identified the creeks, it would have helped. However, we could not do anything in the court. There are too many challenges. We still keep trying to find a way,” said Goyal.

The PIL was filed by Sehajpreet Singh, 26, an advocate in the high court. In the PIL, he stated that he has a keen interest in matters relating to public interest, environment, forests, and pollution. The petitioner claimed that he has taken so many steps for the interest and safeguard of the environment, like tree plantation, cleanliness drives organised by various NGOs and government agencies.

The petitioner also approached the court by way of another PIL on a similar issue in 2022, and the same is pending with the high court. There is no direct interest of the petitioner in the present case, he said in the PIL.

The petitioner said he is primarily concerned about the actions of the Department of Mines and Geology, which is allegedly pursuing commercial sand mining under the guise of desilting. He claimed that it is allowing its officials to excavate and sell minor minerals without obtaining environmental clearance or the necessary consent to operate m the Punjab Pollution Control Board.