Punjab on alert as rising levels in Himachal dams trigger flood concerns; state rushes response teams

As water levels in dams continue to rise due to incessant rains in Himachal Pradesh — particularly in the upstream areas of the Beas and Satluj rivers — and water keeps gushing into Punjab’s plains, the state government has rushed its teams to flood-affected and flood-prone areas.

Controlled release of water is being done from Pong Dam for nearly a week, and from Bhakra Dam for the past two days. These releases have impacted several villages across Sultanpur Lodhi, Tanda, Nangal, Ferozepur, Fazilka, and Tarn Taran.

An emergency meeting of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) was convened on Wednesday evening to assess the flood situation in Punjab.

During the meeting, a representative from the Himachal Pradesh government urged the BBMB not to restrict the release of water into the Beas, citing flooding in their areas.

Beginning Thursday, 75,000 cusecs of water will be released in a controlled manner from Pong Dam, where inflows had reached approximately 1 lakh cusecs on Wednesday.

Since the water level in the Bhakra Dam too reached 1666.32 feet on Wednesday, controlled releases will again be made on Thursday.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Punjab government has dispatched its cabinet ministers to flood-affected areas.

Cabinet Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal will review the flood situation in Ferozepur and Tarn Taran. Minister Hardeep Mundian will review the situation in Sultanpur Lodhi, and Laljit Bhullar will distribute relief materials to flood-affected people in Patti. Dr Balbir Singh will hold a meeting with district officials and IMA office-bearers in Kapurthala.