Over 60 Jalandhar villages inundated

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service 

Mianwal/Mao Sahib (Phillaur), August 19 

Over 60 villages in Jalandhar and its periphery were flooded after breaches in the Beas and Sutlej today and thousands of acres of paddy fields were submerged after water released from the Ropar headworks made its way to the area. In all, there were nine breaches in the rivers, inundating fields and some houses in villages. 

Crops in thousands of acres were submerged and at least 200 people were safely evacuated from Jalandhar and Kapurthala in relief operations launched by the administration and villagers. 

In Jalandhar, 49 villages were flooded — 31 in Phillaur and 18 in Shahkot. While crops in 11,400 acres were destroyed in Phillaur alone, the administration was assessing the damage in the remaining areas. Even though no loss of life reported was reported from anywhere, flooding of fields had stranded many people in their houses amid fields. 

Notably, despite information about floods at least 48 hours ago, many breaches could not be prevented across the district. Many people in Shahkot and Phillaur claimed that rampant sand mining in their areas had weakened the bundhs. 

With water flooding Mao Sahib Bhaini and Mianwal villages early this morning, the administration along with NDRF and SDRF teams started rescue operations and evacuated 70 persons in Phillaur. After the breaches in Shahkot at 3 pm, the relief efforts were shifted there. Until now seven persons have been evacuated from Shahkot. 

In Kapurthala, five to eight villages were flooded after breaches at Gidderpindi and Darewal. 

Talking to The Tribune, Nirmal Singh, sarpanch of Mianwal village in Philaur, said, “The administration did step in early, but many people in Mianwal and Mao Sahib were rescued by other villagers. We rescued at least 15 to 20 persons from deras (fields houses) before the administration stepped in.”