Move to safety, Fazilka admn tells villagers

The flood situation in Fazilka has turned grim. The district administration has advised residents of over 10 villages falling across the Sutlej creek in the district to move to safer places. The administration used the public address system to issue the advisory asking women, children and the elderly to move to five relief camps set up near the border villages.

District Magistrate Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu has ordered the closure of government and private schools situated in 20 flood-affected villages for three days — August 26, 27 and 28. The decision has been taken as most of the link roads leading to these schools are inundated.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Kaur said teams had been pressed into service for the safe evacuation of the residents. She said the relief camps had been set up at government high schools in Mauzam, Asafwala and Salemshah villages, Sant Kabir Polytechnic College, Fazilka, and Government Senior Secondary School, Hasta Kalan.

Sources in the Deputy Commissioner’s office said 1.70 lakh cusecs of water had been released from the Harike Headworks, which could harm border villages, and due to this, the villagers had been advised to move out.

The National Disaster Response Force, Border Security Force and the Army have been put on alert. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, in a letter to the Commandant, NDRF, Bathinda, today, requested that units be put on standby to deal with any emergency.

Subeg Singh, Block Samiti member of an affected village — Jhangar Bhaini — said some residents of Retewali Bhaini, Teja Ruhela, Jhangar Bhaini and Gatti No. 1 villages had started moving to their relatives’ places in nearby villages as they feared that the road link may get snapped at night since the water level was continuously increasing. He said the water had started entering houses in some hamlets in the border belt.

The floodwaters are posing a threat to the vital Kawanwali bridge, which connects over 10 villages with Fazilka. In case more water is released, it may start flowing over the bridge and snap the villagers’ connectivity. The bridge is situated nearly 20 ft above the Sutlej bed.

According to the sources, standing crops on about 10,000 acres have been inundated and destroyed in 21 villages of Fazilka district.

Giving details, they said crops on 1,600 acres in Hasta Kala village, 1,500 acres in Ghurka, 1,150 acres in Mahatam Nagar, 800 acres in Mohar Jamsher, 625 acres in Teja Ruhela, 600 acres in Walle Shah Hithar, 450 acres in Chak Khiva, 400 acres in Prabhat Singh Wala Hithar, 350 acres each in Walle Shah Uttrar and Chak Ruhela, 300 acres each in Dhandi Qadim and Dona Sikandari and the remaining in Gatti No. 1, Kawanwali, Santokh Singh Wala, Baghe Ke Hithar, Dhandi Khurd, Pir Ke Hithar, Badal Pir Ke and Pir Ke Uttar villages had been destroyed.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Dr Baljit Kaur, along with Fazilka MLA Narinderpal Singh Sawna, visited the flood-affected areas and distributed ration and other relief material among villagers on Monday evening. She is the fifth Punjab minister to visit Fazilka in the past three days.

Meanwhile, the floodwaters of the Beas have caused damage in Motla, Haled Janardhan, Koliyan, Mehtabpur, Miyani Malahan, Kalota and Naushera Pattan villages of Mukerian subdivision in Hoshiarpur. The Dhussi dam at Motla, Haled Janardhan and Mehtabpur villages have suffered damage. While villagers have been shifted to safer locations, paddy and sugarcane crops on hundreds of acres have got ravaged.

An estimated 40 to 50 villages of Sultanpur Lodhi have been affected by the floods. A house in Rampur Gaura village has collapsed. Cracks have appeared in several houses.