Breach in bundh floods 15 Kapurthala villages

A breach in a temporary bundh caused by rising waters of the Beas led to inundation in at least 17 villages of Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district this morning.

While hundreds of acres of farmland had been inundated earlier, the breach today caused water to enter residential areas. Days after flashfloods at Chakki Mirthal inundated crops in dozens of villages, an unprecedented rise in the Beas last night caused a massive breach at the temporary bundh at Bhaini Bahadur village in Sultanpur Lodhi at 5 am.

Hundreds of villagers along with teams from the Baba Sukha Singh’s Sarhali dera have been working all day to plug the leak in the bundh amidst heavy inflow of water. Several machines sent by Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Rana Inder Partap joined the efforts.

Over 15 to 17 villages, including Bhaini Bahadur, Bhaini Kadar Baksh, Baupur Jadid, Baupur Kadim Rampur Gaura, Sangra, Middhewal, Passan Kadim, among others, have been affected by the breach in the river bank. Residents at villages, including Rampur Gaura, loaded up trucks and tempos to shift belongings to safer places. Meanwhile, others, unable to shift at such a short time, moved their grains and belongings to upper floors of houses.

Sarwan Singh, a resident of Baupur, said, “There are roughly 4,000 residents in the area affected by the floodwater sthis morning. We’re afraid almost all houses in this stretch will be flooded. While waters have already reached the lower levels of our houses, we need boats even to travel through our own village tomorrow. There is no designated relief camp so far. We will spend the night on rooftops.”

Nishan Singh, a resident of Passan Kadim, who lost acres of his crops to inundation days ago, said, “Our crops are gone and now water has entered the village. The site of our fields has turned into an ocean. There’s no relief or boats. From 2023 to now, nothing has changed.”

Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira also made an FB video appeal to the state government to act immediately to prevent the flooding of villages. Standing 3 km inside the Dhussi bundh in the Mand area, Khaira said, “I appeal to state CM, Revenue Minister and the Disaster Management Department to initiate immediate measures across the Mand and catchment areas of the river to prevent floods.”