Of 45 breaches in dhussi bundhs, 42 alone in Ravi this monsoon

The Sutlej river, which flows for 415 km in Punjab, witnessed two breaches in the dhussi bundhs at Nawanshahr and Ludhiana, both of which were plugged in time. The Beas river saw one breach in the dhussi bundhs at Mukerian, where work is still in progress.

The Ravi river, which swelled to its highest-ever flow of 14.11 lakh cusecs at Dharmkot on August 26, tore through embankments and left vast stretches of farmland and villages under water in Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Amritsar districts.

The gauge at Dharmkot, meant to measure up to 4.63 lakh cusecs, became inaccessible for days after August 26 as Ravi crossed more than double its capacity. Officials said this unprecedented pressure overwhelmed embankments.

Senior officers in the water resources department admitted that, the actual estimate could be calculated once the water recedes but according to preliminary estimates, nearly Rs 70-80 crore is required to plug these 45 breaches, some of which are quite wide, while a total of Rs 600-700 crore is required for comprehensive repair of these bandhs. This includes widening their base, raising them at certain levels up to 15-20 feet from the river bed, regular maintenance, and constructing metalled roads, which have already been constructed on dhussi bundhs at some places, like in Kapurthala district. Punjab’s dhussi bundhs run nearly 900 km across the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Ghaggar, Chitti Bein, and several seasonal streams, at several places.

The rivers of the state are swelling because along with the outflow of water from the dams, the rivers are also carrying water from the several local streams. There are several local water bodies which are active only during the rainy season and which add water into the main rivers and their tributaries during the rainy season. According to the Punjab Water Resources Department, following the 2023 floods in Punjab, the department has notified around 850 water bodies in the state. These include main rivers, seasonal rivers, their tributaries, water channels, choes, kahdds, nadis (all seasonal streams), etc.

A senior officer in the Punjab Water Resources Department said that it was the fourth flood in the state since 2008, including 2019 and 2023. “In every flood we lost property worth 1000s of crores, which included damage to power infrastructure, road infrastructure, dhussi bandhs, crop loss, and personal losses to the affected people in the form of damage to their houses, household goods, farm machinery, etc. The collective loss in all these floods would come to around thousands of crores, while if these dhussi bandhs are made according to the worst nature’s fury, then the damage could be controlled several fold and expenditure post floods could be curtailed manifold. But funds are generally released only after the damage for plugging and constructing spurs,” the officer said, adding that timely strengthening and widening could have prevented much of the destruction.

He said that despite the government’s substantial spending on relief efforts after every flood, the affected people do not receive complete relief but only enough to survive.

In 2023, around 100 breaches were reported across different rivers in Punjab. While 50 breaches were reported in Ghaggar river, the remaining was in Satluj, Beas, Ravi and their tributaries. In 2008, 42 breaches were reported in Satluj and Beas river. In 2019, more than 50 breaches were reported and around 18 were in Satluj, according to Punjab water resources department officials.

In 2023, Rs 50 crore was estimated to repair the breaches, 40 of which were large and 60 small. Then, according to the department, nearly 50 per cent of the breaches had occurred on embankments along the Ghaggar river.

Water Resources Minister Barinder Goyal said the scale of the Ravi’s discharge made breaches inevitable. “It was difficult to control nature’s fury. But the government will now study the causes in detail and take steps to minimise damages in the fury of nature,” he said.