After devastating floods, Punjab plans to channelise Swan river

After devastating floods in Punjab this year, the Punjab Government has started making a detailed project report (DPR) for taming the Swan river in Ropar district. Sources here said that the drainage department was planning a project for the channelisation of the river stretch in Ropar district and was looking into a possibility of creating a dam on the river.

The Swan, which was once called the river of sorrow for Una district of Himachal, has now turned into a bane for Ropar district of Punjab. The Himachal Government has channelised the entire stretch of the river in its territory to prevent floods. However, the entire flood water of the river which once spread in various wetlands in Una district now spreads in Ropar district of Punjab. It also impacts areas lying around the Sutlej river in Ropar, Nawanshahr and Ludhiana districts as the Swan river flood water enters the Sutlej river in Ropar district. This year, during peak monsoons, the Swan added 90,000 cusecs of water into the Sutlej which was much more than the releases from Bhakra Dam.

When contacted, Executive Engineer, Drainage, Anandpur Sahib, Gurtej Singh Garcha confirmed that the department was preparing a project for the channelisation of the Swan river in Ropar district.

Confirming the development, Minister for Education and Public Relations Harjot Singh Bains, who represents Anandpur Sahib Assembly constituency, while talking to The Tribune, said the drainage department had been directed to prepare a DPR for the channelisation of the Swan river.

The project would reclaim vast tracks of land for the farmers of Ropar district and prevent flooding by the river in the area. The officials of the drainage department have also been asked to look for a possibility of making a dam on the river.

“If a dam is constructed on the river, we can hold flood waters of the river during monsoons which would prevent floods in downstream areas of the Sutlej, he said.

Bains said that once the DPR was ready, the department would seek funding from the union ministry for water resources for project, he said.

The Swan river has its origins in the Dhaulatpur area of Una district in Himachal Pradesh. It has about 600 tributaries in Una. The entire about 70-km stretch of the river in Una district and its 600 tributaries have been channelised by the Himachal government. The river enters Ropar in Nangal subdivision of the district and travels about 40 km before merging with the Sutlej near Anandpur Sahib.

The sources here said the British had initially proposed a dam on the Swan river also, along with the Bhakra Dam project, to control flooding in Punjab plains.

Surveys were done and project reports made for the project after independence. However, due to financial constraints and the urgent need for the Bhakra-Nangal project, the dam on the Swan river never materialised.

This year’s floods have reignited the debate on the urgency of managing these tributaries, which remain unregulated and continue to pose a major flood threat to districts like Ropar, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, and Hoshiarpur.

Experts and locals are now urging policymakers to revisit the long-pending plans for dams on Swan and Sirsa rivers to avoid future flooding and safeguarding lives and livelihoods in Punjab’s low-lying regions.