Breach in Tarn Taran village drain leaves paddy field inundated

Tarn Taran, July 23

The Kasur drain developed a breach at two places in the Kasur drain near Plasaur village here on Sunday, inundating 30 acres of paddy crops of village farmers.

The flood situation in the Beas and Sutlej rivers remained the same with the crops on over 60,000 acres in 60 villages still inundated.

The breach in the drain came to the notice of residents of the village and activists of the Tarn Taran Hariawal Lehar (TTHL) who immediately swung into action and made efforts to stop the situation from going out of hand. As many as 200 farmers and other residents under the leadership of Gurinder Singh and 25 activists of the TTHL under the guidance of Tejinderpal Singh remained alert for hours.

Deputy Commissioner Baldeep Kaur said teams of the Drainage Department under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioner Amninder Kaur immediately reached the spot and all activists started putting in efforts to repair the breaches, which were repaired within hours. Gurinder Singh said villagers would keep a watch on the drain round the clock.

The villagers held the administration and officials of the Drainage Department responsible for this lapse. They said the drain was flowing at its full capacity for the last few days, but the officials took no notice of the weak banks of the drain. They alleged the water hyacinth had not been removed from the drain, which was the major reason of the breaches. They alleged the banks of the drain had not been repaired over the years.