The 300-metre-long
trench in the ‘dhussi’ bundh at Madepura village on the Nakodar road
in Ludhiana district has become a nightmare for residents of 10
villages on the banks of the Sutlej near the Nakodar-Jallandhar road.
More than 20,000
acres of agricultural land and 1,800 houses at Parjiyan, Kaniya,
Hussaini, Abupura, Madepura, Giddarwindi and Sidhwan Bet are under the
threat of floods as the water level has reduced the width of the bundh
to less than five feet.
The villagers, after
seeing the rising water level last evening, informed the
administration, which immediately sprung into action.
The drainage
department deployed 20 workers to fortify the bundh, which were
inadequate to carry out the work on the damaged stretch.
Seeing that the
workers were insufficient, 500 villagers volunteered to help the
administration in carrying out the repair work.
Local MLA Gurdeep
Singh Bhani said, “The villagers had been requesting the district
administration to mend the worn-out part of the bundh for the last six
months, but it had always been giving the excuse of shortage of funds.
Ideally, the bundh should have been repaired during winter.”
Drainage department
JE Jagdish Chander said he had been on the spot for the past two
weeks, but was helpless due to unavailability of funds.
“The velocity of the
water is high and sand bags alone will serve the purpose. Still, we
are doing our best to avert any further damage in the given
resources,” he said.
At the same time,
farmers from Kaniya and Hussaini villages rued that 1,200 acres of
paddy fields were under Sutlej water, but administrative officials
said it was water from a nearby drain that had flowed into the fields.
‘Under Control’
Ludhiana Deputy
Commissioner Rahul Tewari was on the spot for almost two hours to
supervise the repair work. “The river hits the bundh in a V-shape
here, which has washed away studs, but we have managed to control the
situation for the time being. Since we do not have the post of
drainage SE, I have requested the drainage SE at Jalandhar for
supervision and he will be here shortly. I have asked the PWD and the
municipal corporation for additional resources,” he said.
