Abohar farmers on the edge as drain brims

The Abulkhurana drain, which carries surplus water of three other channels emanating from Lambi and Malout, was brimming to the full near Abohar’s Saiyadwala village on Thursday, sending local farmers into a tizzy.

The farmers fear the repeat of the 1997 tragedy, when several houses had collapsed and hundreds of acres inundated with floodwaters.

The administration too sounded the alert, with officials saying it could overflow anytime given that the Sutlej is in spate. Ramesh Bishnoi and other farmers recalled that they had inspected the drain in the first week of July and demanded that it should be cleaned due to a thick blanket of wild growth in it.

They alleged that the Drainage Department falsely claimed to have cleaned the drain. Sewage water from 50 wards of the Municipal Corporation (MC) is also released into the drain near Saiyadwala village through a 14.5-km-long cement pipe emanating from the sewerage treatment plant near Indira Nagari.

Earlier, several farmers had complained about leakage in the pipe at several places.

Sources in the MC maintained that a Rs 42.64-crore proposal to reconstruct the pipeline had been sent to the state government but awaiting approval. Sub-divisional Magistrate Krishan Pal Rajput, who also holds the additional charge of the Assistant Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, reached the spot and directed the Drainage Department officials to start cleaning of the drain.

The department has also been directed to place sandbags on both sides of the drain to strengthen berms.