Villages swamped, flood risk now in Ajnala town

The flood crisis in Punjab’s Amritsar district has worsened, with 10 more villages of Ajnala and Lopoke subdivisions inundated over the past 24 hours and water now entering the low-lying areas of Ajnala town.

More than 50 villages have been marooned since Wednesday when the swollen Ravi breached a ‘dhussi bundh’ (earthen embankments) in Ramdass.

The district administration has so far shifted around 1,000 people to safer places, with some being rescued by air. Army and police personnel distributed food packets among the affected residents of the villages in Ramdass area, including Gonewawl, Machiwal, Shehzada, Jatta, Pashia, Talibpur, Nishoke, Singoke, Ghaggar, Nangal Sohal and Abbadi Chandigarh.

In some parts, rescue teams encountered resistance as some villagers refused to desert their waterlogged houses, preferring to stay on their rooftops.

The shortage of rescue teams too came to light as several villagers alleged that they had been waiting for two days to be shifted out. Ranjit Kumar of Mandirawala village near Ramdass managed to escape with his family after the water receded slightly. “We kept waiting for help for 50 hours, but to no avail. Our house walls developed cracks and we had to move out on our own. We will staying with our relatives in Amritsar until the situation improves,” said Ranjit.

Jasbir Singh of Hardorawal village in Fatehgarh Churian (Gurdaspur) said the water flow had increased significantly in the last 24 hours. “The floods are a reminder of the 1988 devastation. Our village is now under 10 feet of water,” he said.

A government official said a breach in the Kalanaur canal had caused the flooding in several Fatehgarh Churian villages.

Administrative Secretary Kamal Kishore Yadav and Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney supervised the relief and rescue operations in Ramdass and Ajnala. Sawhney said 45,000 drinking water bottles and more than 17,000 food packets were distributed, besides 100 quintals of dry fodder and 850 bags (50 kg each) of animal feed.