The monsoon on Monday advanced to the food bowl states of Punjab and Haryana with a promise to bring showers over the next four days,reducing the shortfall for the season. Monsoon has progressed into Haryana,Punjab and some parts of Rajasthan, Laxman Singh Rathore,Director General India Meteorological Department (IMD),said in Delhi. However,even as the showers in the last few days brought respite to the parts of Punjab and its capital Chandigarh,it also laid bare the administrations claims of being prepared for the monsoon. Yet to take lessons from the last years monsoon,which left a major part of Fazilka and Ferozepur flooded last year government disbursed compensation worth Rs 53.5 crore among the farmers for crop damage the administration of both the districts have been caught napping. The operations to clean up and unclog some of the major drains are still going on at a snails pace even as the state government is yet to release funds for the others. The Forward Bundh on Sutlej near Indo-Pak border had been damaged from three sides,flooding many villages. A project worth Rs 2.38 crore was sanctioned to repair it,but more than 30 per cent of the work remains to be finished. Similarly,Abul Khurana drain,which had flooded Abohar and Balluana,is being widened at a cost of Rs 5.5 crore. The work on drain is still going on even as the Met says that the monsoon currents would remain active for the next four to five days. However,the Fazilka administration is taking it easy. The water is yet to come in Sutlej so there is no need to panic now. We are hopeful that nothing (of what happened last year) will be repeated this year, Fazilka DC Dr Basant Garg said. He confirmed that work on cleaning many of the drains is yet to be completed,but assured that situation was better when compared to last year Interestingly,while the state government has released Rs 35 lakh as flood relief fund,it has not yet sanctioned the full amount of money needed for cleaning all drains in the district. The work at Kaawanwali Pattan,Maujam Forward and Mohar Jamsher are yet to take off. Leader of Opposition and Abohar MLA,Sunil Jakhar,however,rubbished the administrations claims. The widening of Abul Khurana drain is a farce. Only mud is being picked from the sides of the drain and for that also government is paying huge amounts money. No drain in Abohar has been completely cleaned till date, Jakhar said,adding that it seems that no lessons have been learnt from the past.
