No respite from swollen Beas, Mand area in Kapurthala remains submerged for 6th day

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) continued controlled release of water into the Beas from Pong Dam Reservoir, with 59,000 cusecs of water discharged from the reservoir through spillway gates and the dam’s powerhouse turbines on Sunday

The low-lying areas situated in the Mand area of Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur districts remained submerged in water due to swollen Beas on the sixth consecutive day, triggering fear of crop damage.

Villagers shifting their belongings to safer areas via boat in Kapurthala on Sunday.

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) continued controlled release of water into the Beas from Pong Dam Reservoir, with 59,000 cusecs of water discharged from the reservoir through spillway gates and the dam’s powerhouse turbines on Sunday.

The water level in Pong Dam stands at 1,379 feet, against the capacity of 1,390 feet.

Sultanpur Lodhi’s sub-divisional officer (drainage), Khushwinder Singh, said the Beas was carrying 1.13 lakh cusecs of water on Sunday against 1.11 cusecs recorded on Saturday.

“We are on high alert due to excessive and intermittent rainfall in the catchment areas of the Beas. The water will only recede once the inflow of water into the Pong from the catchments lowers,” he said. Built over Beas, the Pong Dam’s catchment areas include Kangra, Mandi, and Kullu districts in Himachal Pradesh, which have witnessed heavy rainfall and cloudbursts in the past weeks.

Several villages in the mand area of Sultanpur Lodhi, Dhilwan, and Bholath remained under water with the main breach in Bhaini Kadar village, which led to flooding of over 4,000 acres of agricultural land, residential areas, and schools, yet to be plugged. Over 4,500 people have been affected, with many of them having shifted their families and livestock to safer places. The villages included Baupur Zadid, Baupur Kadim, Rampur Gaura, Mohmdabad , Mubarakpur, Sangra, Baupur Kadim, Baupur Zadid, Bhaini Karim, and Bhaini Bahadur remained largely affected.

Rajya Sabha MP Balbir Singh Seechewal said the advance embankments on the Beas are under threat of breaching at three places—Karmuwal Pattan, Baupur, and Ahli Kalan. He stated that farmers are working tirelessly, day and night, to prevent these embankments from breaching.

“For the past week, particularly paddy crops have remained submerged and have now started rotting. Fodder for cattle is also decaying, causing foul odour across the entire region,” Seechewal said.

Deputy commissioner Amit Kumar Panchal said the administration has been ensuring an adequate supply of dry ration, fodder, and drinking water in all affected areas to meet immediate needs.

“We deployed teams of veterinary doctors to care for livestock during this crisis, besides deploying medical officers to tackle any sort of medical exigency,” the DC added.

Seechewal demands compensation for farmers

Seechewal, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union agriculture minister Shivraj Chauhan, and chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, demanded compensation for flood-affected farmers and deferring loan instalments.

“The repayment of loans taken by the affected farmers from banks should be deferred. When the crops have already been destroyed, how can the farmers be expected to pay back their loan instalments?” said Seechewal, adding that the government must conduct special surveys of the fields so that the actual extent of damage can be assessed.