No relief in sight for farmers as Beas, Sutlej waters fail to recede

There is still no relief for farmers in villages located along the Beas and Sutlej rivers here. The water in the rivers has not receded and hundred of acres of farmland continue to be submerged under water. As a result, farmers have been facing the threat of floods for over three weeks now. At the confluence of river Beas and Sutlej at Harike head works in Tarn Taran, water level downstream on Friday was 1.29 cusecs and 1.44 cusecs upstream. It has crossed the danger mark on both sides since then.

Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Jaswinder Singh said that water level was going up every day both upstream and downstream. The CAO said that standing crops in 20,000 acres of land have been submerged in the flood waters.

Villages from Bhalojla (under Beas river) to border area Muthianwala (falling under Sutlej river) have been facing the threat every year for decades. There are a large number of farmers whose crops were damaged in the year 2023 and their land too was made not worth cultivating as silt and sand from the river filled their fields. The situation persists till now.

Roop Singh, a farmer from Dhunda village which is the worst affected by the floods, and Chainchal Singh, another farmer of Mundapind village, said on Sunday that all the temporary bundhs erected in the low-lying areas of river Beas by the farmers themselves have been breached with river water flowing over them.

Gurjit Singh, a follower of Baba Sukha Singh, head of Kar Sewa sect, Sarhali, which is voluntarily strengthening the river embankment in the border village of Sabhra, said that the followers of the sect are busy strengthening of the embankment of the river for the last more than a week and are keeping a watch round-the-clock in case a breach occurs. The followers of the sect are busy strengthening the embankments and expect their work to be completed in the next few days.

The farmers of the area alleged that the state government has failed to provide them with dry fodder for cattle as their own stock had been damaged by the surging river waters.