With rise in Hussainiwala barrage water level, villagers start moving to safer places

Caught between the proverbial devil and the deep sea, the hapless residents belonging to border villages situated along the meandering Sutlej, which is in spate these days, are on the edge due to the rise in the water level in the upstream Hussainiwala barrage.

Many of them have started moving to safer places in anticipation of the flood-like situation which had hit them hard two years ago.

Villagers of Dheera Ghara, Nihala Lavera, Bagge Wala, Basti Ratto Ke, Talli Gram and Kamale Wala are yet to come out of the previous setback and are again on the verge of facing the similar situation.

Angrej Singh, a resident of Dheera Ghara, has decided to move to his relative’s house in another village along with his wife Gurmeet Kaur and three kids Anju (11), Harjot Singh (8) and Sandeep Singh (5).

“My 4-acre land situated near the Sutlej has submerged, causing me huge financial distress,” said Angrej, adding that he wanted to shift his family to a safer place as the situation here was critical.

Kulwant Singh, a resident of Bagge Wala village, who owns around 35 acres, said the state government had never bothered about their problems which they were facing for the past several years. “The government should work on the strengthening of the embankments and bundhs well before the monsoons,” said Kulwant.

“For the past 10 days, the crops have been submerged and roads leading to villages are also under up 4 to 5 feet water," said Pargat Singh, adding that the leaders come here for photo-op but do nothing on ground except a few words of sympathy

During the floods in 2023, CM Bhagwant Mann had promised during his visit here that the flood-affected farmers would get compensation for the lost crops, said Karaz, adding that they were still awaiting the same. "We got a very meagre amount of Rs 6,500 per acre which is way less than the labour amount," said Pargat.

Almost 10,000 acres, spread over 26 villages of this district, have been affected due to the floods. Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Rajwinder Kaur today visited flood-affected villages to review the healthcare arrangements. She inspected medical camps at Nihala Lavera and interacted with villagers. “Emergency rapid response teams have been deployed in several villages to provide medical aid and precautionary measures have been taken to prevent waterborne and vector-borne diseases, besides ensuring safe drinking water and provision of medicines and antiseptics,” said the CMO, adding that special arrangements had been made for pregnant women, while awareness drives were being conducted across the affected areas.

SE (Canal) Sandeep Goyal said although the water level had receded, much depended on further rainfall in the catchment areas of the dams. As per information, while 95,398 cusecs discharge was recorded upstream Harike, it was 73,379 cusecs downstream. At the Hussainiwala barrage, it was 73,374 cusecs upstrean and 72,344 cusecs water was released downstream towards Fazilka, part of which goes into Pakistan.

Deputy Commissioner Deep Shikha Sharma said cluster level teams had been constituted to provide relief material and the administration was keeping an eye on the situation. “Overall, the situation was under control till now,” she said.