Rising dam water causes widespread flooding in Punjab, loss assessment ordered

With dam water levels rising due to heavy rain in Himachal’s upstream areas of the Beas and Sutlej, Punjab is facing flooding across its plains. The state government has now ordered a special girdawari of the flood-affected areas to assess the extent of damage.

Floods have affected around 90,884 acres across 150 villages in seven districts. Fazilka is the worst-hit, with the Sutlej waters ruining crops on 32,762 acres. In Kapurthala’s Sultanpur Lodhi area, the Beas flooding has submerged 20,005 acres of farmland, while Tarn Taran’s Chola Sahib, Patti and Khadoor Sahib areas have 18,920 acres under water.

Though controlled release of water is being done from the Pong Dam for almost a week now, 71,794 cusec water was released on Thursday. In case of the Bhakra Dam, 43,300 cusec water was released on Thursday, even as controlled release from the dam has been going on for two days now. The inflow at the Pong Dam on Thursday was 64,705 cusec, while it was 52,634 cusec at the Bhakra Dam.

Consequently, the water flow at Harike, where the Beas and the Sutlej meet, reached 94,929 cusec, while it was 82,725 cusec at Hussainiwala. The surge caused renewed flooding in Ferozepur and Fazilka villages. In Fazilka, crops on 28,952 acres remained submerged, while another 3,810 acres along the Sutlej banks have also been affected. Ferozepur still has 34 villages impacted by the rising Sutlej waters.

Tarn Taran district reported flooding in 40 villages between Bhalojala and Muthianwala, with Chola Sahib being the worst-hit area, where 11,345 acres remain submerged.

Kirti Kisan Union leader Nachhatar Singh said crops on 3,000 acres had been destroyed at Munda Pind and Johal Dhaiwala.

In the Doaba region, the swollen Beas continues to threaten villagers, heavily affecting Sultanpur Lodhi and Tanda. Water flow at Passi, near Tanda, was 1,15,226 cusec and 1,19,403 cusec at Dhilwan. Flooding in Tanda has submerged 988 acre farmland. In Kapurthala district, 63 villages have been affected.

Recognising the severity, state cabinet ministers have been dispatched to affected regions. Barinder Kumar Goyal assessed conditions in Ferozepur and Tarn Taran, Hardeep Singh Mundian visited Sultanpur Lodhi, while Laljit Bhullar distributed relief materials in Patti. Dr Balbir Singh convened a meeting with district officials and Indian Medical Association (IMA) representatives at Kapurthala to ensure medical readiness to tackle any outbreak of waterborne diseases.