325-ft Shahkot breach plugged

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Jalandhar, July 15

Setting an example, environmentalist and Rajya Sabha member Balbir Singh Seechewal and his team have managed to plug a 325-foot wide breach in the dhussi bundh along the Sutlej at Mandala Chhana village of Lohian area in record five days.

The breach had appeared in the wee hours of Tuesday. Work to plug it was started the same evening amid a torrential current of water, to ensure that it did not widen more. The breach was plugged completely today at 12.30 pm, protecting the villages in Shahkot and Sultanpur Lodhi from more flow of floodwater.

Seechewal and his team had worked 24×7 using floodlights to ensure that the plugging was completed in the shortest possible time. Accompanying his team, the MP himself filled up sacks of sand, picked them on his shoulders and unloaded them in the iron meshes used for the work. He used his own machinery, including JCB, to speed up the work. Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Sushil Rinku and Minister Balkar Singh also personally pitched in for help.

There is another breach along the same bundh at Gatta Mundi Kasu village, which is about 900 feet away. The bundh is inaccessible by vehicle so far. Now that the first breach has been plugged, efforts would now be made to fix the next one.