Life interrupted: As Sutlej breaches Dhussi Bandh, villagers take shelter on terraces, roads

Reports on Tuesday also suggested that at least one youth, identified as Arashdeep Singh (22), of Mundi Cholian village, Jalandhar, was washed away while he was trying to ride his motorcycle through a huge flow of water in his village.

Officials said that the breaches in Dhussi Bandh was around 50 to 70 meters wide at some points, and had taken place as around 3.05 lakh cusecs of water had flowed through the Sutlej river on Monday morning. Of the 3.05 lakh cusecs, around 1.50 lakh cusecs was released from the Ropar headworks alone, while the remaining came from local streams and nullas which empty themselves out into the river. Reports suggested that the Sutlej river could only carry around 70,000 to 90,000 cusecs of water at a time.

The Punjab government had to sell the massive sand mounds near Gidderpindi railway bridge and that posed a huge obstacle to the smooth flow of the water during rainy season. (Express Photo)

The people of Mandala Chhanna and Gatta Mandi Kaso were caught unaware, with water from the Sutlej starting to enter the streets of the villages a little after Monday midnight, bringing back memories of floods that had inundated the area in 2019, 2008 and 1988.
The water from the Sutlej also reached Shahkot around midnight on Monday and inundated  fieds, which were already filled with rain water.

As per details, officials of various district administration, who were already on high alert, have launched rescue operations to rescue stranded people, in coordination with Punjab MP Balbir Singh Seechewal, jawans from the Indian Army, NDRF personnel and State Disaster Relief teams. In Jalandhar, the villages that suffered the major brunt of the flood water were Mandi Cholian, Mundi Sherian, Marajwala, Gatta, Mandi Kaso, Chak Mandala, Nasripur Dhakka Basti, and a portion of Giidarpindi.

In Kapurthala, the 14 villages that were flooded were Takia, Mand Inderpur, Bharoana, Ali Kalan, Ali Khurad, Jhuggia Gamu, Channa Windi Wattan Wali, Sekh Mana, Sherpur Sadda, Ssarpuwala, Suchetgarh, Rame, and Shahwala Andrisa.

On Monday, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner, Vishesh Sarangal, had issued orders to evacuate 46 villages that were prone to flooding. However, most locals of the 46 villagesrefused to leave their houses till water came gushing in on Tuesday morning, leaving them not enough time to pack up even their essential belongings to carry. “We were not ready to leave our house initially because all our belongings were lying there. We chose to instead sit on the rooftop and wait. But due to the heavy water flow, our house collapsed. We were then rescued by local officials and taken to safety,” said Channo, a resident of Dakka Basti village.

Most people who trudged into relief camps set up by the administration to help support those being evacuated, said that the flood was a disaster waiting to happen as despite repeated pleas the officials decided not to strengthen Dhussi Bandh in the past several years. (Express Photo)

Sansar Singh, a resident of Mandla Chhanna village, said that he was a marginal farmers with 3  acres land, all of which was submerged under flood water. He added that his kuccha house too had collapsed forcing his family and him to evacuate near the bandh and wait for rescue teams to arrive.

Jaswant Singh, a resident of the same village, added that sourcing drinking was their primary problem at the moment and the district administration should immediately step in and start supplying the same to them. Not just in Dakka Basti, several people in other villages too could be seen camping on their rooftops, waiting for the water level to subside.

“How can we leave our house when our cattle are here. Who will look after them?” asked Rattan Singh, a resident of Nasirpur village, Jalandhar, adding that the moment they leave they suspected people would come steal all their valuables and belongings.

Most people who trudged into relief camps set up by the administration to help support those being evacuated, said that the flood was a disaster waiting to happen as despite repeated pleas the officials decided not to strengthen Dhussi Bandh in the past several years.

“The bandh could have been repaired and strengthened with the silt of Sutlej river alone. However, the silt accumulated and hampered the water flow leading to the bandh being breached,” said Jagtar Singh of Mandi Cholian village.

“Under the MGNREGA programme, the bandh could have been strengthened. But no one took the initiave,” said sarpanch Varinder Kumar of Mandala Chhanna village. Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner, Vishesh Sarangal said that at least 200 people had been rescued so far. He also shared two numbers — Parminder Pal Singh (9814070171), and Sandip Singh (9815973543) — for people to contact if they needed to be picked up and brought to relief centres.

On Tuesday, MP Seechewal poured 1000s of bags of sand and started plugging the breach of the Dhussi Bandh on the Mandala Channa village side in the evening. Seechewal, and his supporters, also organised langars for people stranded in the flood-affected areas. Jawans from the Army, NDRF and state Disaster Relief Force came togetehr on Tuesday to save more than 200 lives while conducting special operation in flood affected areas of Shahkot and Kapurthala. A pregnant woman was rescued in the Takia village in Kapurthala on Tuesday evening.

No lessons learnt

This year’s flood situation is a repeat of 2019 incident and same areas got inundated this year too. The Punjab government had to sell the massive sand mounds near Gidderpindi railway bridge and that posed a huge obstacle to the smooth flow of the water during rainy season. This bridge was a major cause of severe flooding in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts in 2019 also when the government incurred Rs 1200 crore in loses when it had to pay compensation and expenses on repair of damaged roads and bandhs. Even though the sand clearing work began in June end, it was already very late and monsoon was round the corner. On the face of destruction, most residents said the same thing. “The government earned around Rs 11 crore from selling sand accumulated in the river bed near Gidderpindi village bridge. And to collect the amount, the government delayed on upkeep of the region which was much needed ahead of the monsoon season. And now the owing to its delay, the government has to pay several 100 crores in not only in relief and rescue work but also rehabilitation,” a villager said.