Punjab, Haryana villages flooded as rivers rise alarmingly

CHANDIGARH - Close to 75 villages in Punjab and Haryana were flooded and thousands of acres of farm land inundated as the Yamuna, Satluj and other rivers rose to alarming levels and overflowed their banks due to incessant rains, an official said Friday.

The rainfall over the past few days in the region and in the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand caused overflowing of the Satluj, Yamuna, Markanda and Tangri and other rivers. The flood water has entered the low-lying areas.

Over 60 villages in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district were flooded. “Rescue work is on and hundreds of victims have been evacuated to safe locations,” Yamunanagar Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sanghwan told IANS.

“Flood water has also damaged national highways. This has badly hit the road traffic,” he said.

“Administration has made all safety arrangements. We have observed that the water level has started receded slightly in the Yamuna river. Now, it depends on the intensity of rains in the coming days,” Sanghwan said.

Besides, flood water has also entered some villages in Ambala, Panipat and Sonepat districts.

Sonepat Deputy Commissioner Ajit Joshi said: “The Yamuna is flowing at threatening levels. It is posing a threat to the adjacent villages. We have identified various sensitive points and placed sand bags there. Our senior officials are closely monitoring the situation.”

In Punjab, the Satluj entered into over a dozen villages in Anandpur Sahib sub-division of Ropar district. Water entered into these villages through the breach that emerged near Lodhipur village.

This breach emerged around a month back but the Ropar administration failed to plug it. The most affected villages were Dasgrain, Burj, Mehndli Kalan, Lodhipur and Baddal.

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) also released over 30,000 cusecs of water into the Satluj Thursday to maintain the maximum level of 1,680-foot in the Bhakra Dam reservoir.

Water lever at the Bhakra Dam reached 1680.90 feet Thursday and the inflow was around 40,000 cusecs.

However, a BBMB official said there was no threat of floods in the region.

“Release of water from the Bhakra reservoir is a routine exercise and so far there is no threat of floods. Everything is under control and we should not create panic about this,” BBMB joint director V.P. Sharma told IANS.