Rising water level: Mirzapur villagers construct bundh third time after damage

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Nawanshahr, August 24

Mirzapur villagers in Rahon and Nawanshahr managed to construct again a protective bundh that had got eroded yesterday after water was flowing at 72,000 cusecs in the Sutlej. It is for the third time that they have constructed the bundh. They have been working hard to ensure that they don’t have to face the situation like in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. The villagers also received help from the district administration.

The water level started to recede today which worried officials of the district administration over any further erosion or breaches in the bundh, but the situation remained under control. Until last night, the situation remained critical in the area.

The Mirzapur Sarpanch said that for the last six days, the villagers from surrounding areas were coming in large numbers to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.

“We are really thankful to the district administration officials for remaining vigilant with us,” he said. The Sarpanch added that they would have to keep a watch on the situation for the next few days in case there was again a rise in the water level.

The officials had already evacuated people from 15-18 villages on Wednesday to save lives in case of a flood-like situation. “We also have proper arrangements for cattle in the area and people were moved to safer places,” said ADC Rajiv Verma.

Deputy Commissioner NPS Randhawa, ADC Rajiv Verma and SDM Shivraj Bal were monitoring the situation.