Sutlej tributary floods dozen Ropar villages
Tribune News Service
Anandpur Sahib, August 2
Fields in nearly a dozen villages near the town were flooded when the water level in the Swan river, a tributary of the Sutlej, rose sharply due to heavy rains in the region on Friday.
The affected villages are Lodhipur, Mataur, Hariwal, Ballowal, Mehndli Kalan, Gajpur, Nikkuwal, Amarpur Bera and Chandpur Bela.
During monsoon, around 10,000 cusecs of water flows in the Swan, which originates from Una in Himachal Pradesh and merges with the Sutlej near Algran village.
At 9 am on Friday, 35,000 cusecs of water flow was recorded in the Sutlej while 49,000 cusecs in the Swan due to heavy rains in its catchment area. However, when the Swan water merged with the Sutlej near Algaran village, it crossed the damaged bundh at Lodhipur village and flooded the fields in the area.
Notably, the villagers have been facing weather vagaries since 2010, when 1,000-feet stretch of Lodhipur bundh was damaged in floods. Though the then Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal visited the spot and promised to repair it, nothing has been done so far. Since then almost every year the crops are damaged in these villages during monsoon.
Later in 2011, the Directorate of Irrigation and Power Research, Amritsar, had conducted a survey on the flow of rivers and its impact in the area. On the basis of the survey, a proposal to construct a new bundh at Lodhipur (costing Rs 13.43 crore) was submitted to the government, nut to no avail.
Even the promises made by former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra to channel the river are yet to see the light of day. Meanwhile, Additional Deputy Commissioner Jagvinderjeet Singh Garewal, who along with the officials of the Drainage, Irrigation and Revenue Departments visited the affected villages, said the situation had improved as the flow of water in the Swan reduced to 11,000 cusecs by Friday evening. He said the Revenue Department officials had been directed to assess the crop damage and submit a report.
