Flood fear rises in Sirsa’s Ghaggar belt as leaders flag risks, officials cite readiness

With the monsoon approaching, fear of flooding has once again gripped the villages near the Ghaggar river in Haryana. Despite the devastating floods in 2023, key preventive work such as strengthening of embankment and river cleaning remains incomplete.

The Ghaggar river, which enters Haryana from Punjab near Jakhal, flows through nearly 175 km across Fatehabad and Sirsa districts. Every year during the rainy season, the river swells and poses a serious threat to nearby villages and farmlands. In 2023, floodwaters destroyed thousands of hectares of crops, particularly due to the swelling of Ghaggar river and Rangoi Nala.

According to local leaders, the Irrigation Department has failed to carry out the necessary maintenance this year. While budgets are allocated annually for cleaning the river and reinforcing embankments, little visible work has been done. As water levels begin to rise, the risk of damage increases with each passing day.

Member of Parliament from Sirsa, Kumari Selja, criticised the administration’s inaction, warning that if flooding occured again, the blame would likely be shifted to minor excuses such as rodents damaging the embankments. She emphasised that the same cycle was repeated every year, committees were formed, but long-term solutions were ignored.

Selja pointed out that several villages, including Khairekan, Jhopra, Musahibwala, Lahangewala, and Ottu faced severe danger due to their proximity to the river. Farmers in these areas were particularly vulnerable, as crop loss caused by floods could destroy their entire year’s livelihood. She urged the government to focus on strengthening the embankments before any disaster struck.

Highlighting past incidents, she said the Ghaggar river had caused major destruction in 1988, 1993, 1995, 2010, and 2023. In 2010 alone, over 70 villages were affected and more than 33,000 acres of crops were destroyed. Despite tht history, no permanent solution had been put in place.

Irrigation Department’s Executive Engineer, Ajit Hooda, said the Ghaggar flowed for about 75 km through Sirsa district. Out of this, 61 km had government-built embankments.

He explained that where the Ghaggar entered Sirsa district, it passed between two villages Mattar on the right side and Musahibwala on the left. From Mattar to Mallewala, around 20 km of embankments were managed by village panchayats. Similarly, from Musahibwala to Farwai Kalan, about 10 km of embankments were also maintained by the villagers.

Hooda said these panchayat embankments were the ones that usually broke during floods because they were not built or maintained by the Irrigation Department. He added that in 1994, when the government planned to build embankments in these areas, some villagers went to the High Court and got a stay order, requesting that no embankments be built in their villages. As a result, the department did not build embankments in those specific areas and only constructed temporary ones nearby.

He also said that beyond these villages, up to the Rajasthan border, all embankments were built by the department and had remained intact during floods.

Hooda said all embankments under the Irrigation Department were cleaned thoroughly under the MGNREGA scheme. He added that in case of a flood situation, the department was ready to supply soil bags and other materials to nearby villages to help manage any emergencies.