Shahkot, Sultanpur Lodhi MLAs hold dharna at Harike headworks
Jalandhar, July 21
Congress MLA from Shahkot Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia and Independent MLA from Sultanpur Lodhi Rana Inder Partap Singh on Friday organised a huge dharna at Harike headworks.
The MLAs said that villagers from their constituencies have been suffering because of the floods on July 10 and the threat of more water getting released was further bothering them. Along with over 500 odd villagers, they demanded that the gates at Harike be opened to give the residents of Shahkot and Sultanpur Lodhi some relief.
The protest which started at 12 noon went on for four hours. Laddi said, “At the site, we had meetings with the SE, XEN and JE of the drainage department and the SDM of the area. We apprised them of our demands. We told them that because of fresh rain alerts, the villagers along Sutlej were worried about more water likely to be released from the Bhakra dam. It was only after they gave us an assurance that the floodgates at Harike would be opened by night that we lifted our dharna.”
MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh has been flagging the issue of flooding of 14 villages of Sultanpur Lodhi in Mand area because of Beas waters. Meanwhile, SDO Drainage, Sukhpal Singh said, “The water level in Beas has started receding. We measured the level from near Dhilwan railway bridge and it was 4,000 cusecs less than yesterday. Water up to 77,000 cusecs is also being released from Harike.”
