Most rivers in spate, evacuation begins in 35 Ropar villages

Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service
Ropar, August 18

Following heavy rains in the region, dozens of villages in the district are flooded. Keeping in view the deteriorating situation, the district administration has ordered evacuation from 35 villages and other locations on the banks of the Budhki and Sarsa rivers.

While all trains passing through the district were either cancelled or terminated partially, Ropar DC Sumeet Jarangal has ordered to close all private as well as government educational institutions tomorrow. Sources said Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was likely to visit the affected areas on Monday.

At 11 am, over 2.4 lakh cusecs of water was recorded in the Sutlej at Ropar, while its tributaries Swan had 75,000 cusecs, Sarsa 29,000, Budhki 11,000 and Sadhron 13,000.

The rainwater started flooding the area as all the tributaries of the Sutlej swelled to brims during night, trapping people in many villages. As the level of water kept increasing, the district administration ordered to evacuate people from areas near the Budhki and Sarsa rivers.

Several boats driven by NDRF personnel were pressed into service to rescue people from Ranjit Pura, Dahirpur Batarala, Tibba Tapparian and Fandi villages and Gharat Basti of Kiratpur Sahib. Several people could be seen sitting on the roofs of their inundated houses at Khairabad and Bada Phool villages on the outskirts of Ropar. The rainwater entered the building of the new campus of Indian Institute of Technolgy, Ropar, forcing the authorities to shift students from the ground floor to the upper floors of the hostel.

At Surtapur Mand and Kotla Nihang Tapparian, a bundh on the Sadhraon river was washed away, resulting in flooding of fields and houses.

The affected residents of villages near Anandpur Sahib and Bangala Basti in Nurpur Bedi blocked traffic on Ropar-Nangal and Nurpur Bedi-Ropar roads, respectively, to show their resentment against the state government for not making sufficient arrangements to check floods.

ITI flooded; staff, students stuck

Water from the overflowing Budhaki river on Sunday entered the Indian Institute of Technology (ITI), creating panic among faculty members and hostellers. Students were shifted to the upper floors. They however, lost access to mess due to knee-deep water on the campus. It was not possible for any vehicle to move till the submerged houses. The authorities were looking for the help from the NDRF.