Swollen Beas river floods 22 villages in Punjab’s Sultanpur Lodhi

The swollen Beas river has inundated 22 villages in the Mand areas of Sultanpur Lodhi, and the water level in the River has been increasing, said Sultanpur Lodhi SDM Alka Kalia. According to SDO Drainage Khushwinder Singh, the water level in the Beas river is 119,000 cusecs. He said it is very difficult to plug the 100-ft-wide breach as the flow of gushing water is very high, and work on plugging would start when the water level decreases. The department was readying sandbags to plug the breach.

The SDM said that the worst-affected villages — Baupur, Baupur Kadim, Jadid, and Sangra — had standing paddy crops submerged under four to six feet of water. She said residents of Baupur are not ready to leave their houses in the Mand areas but are shifting their belongings to safer places.

Meanwhile, environmentalist and Rajya Sabha Member Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal has pressed into service two motorboats to deliver cooked food and fodder for animals in the worst-affected village Baupur. Followers were also rendering help to flood-affected farmers suffering from ailments by bringing them to the hospital in the motorboats for treatment.

Sant Seechewal said that his followers have filled sand into more than 20,000 bags to plug the breach when the water level decreases in the river. District authorities are maintaining strict vigil at the dhussi bundh, which is in an intact position.