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Punjab suspends 3 irrigation officers for Madhopur barrage gate collapse in August
Action against XEN, SDO and JE in irrigation and ground water division of Madhopur headworks after principal secretary, water resources, conducts probe.
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The Punjab government on Saturday suspended an executive engineer (XEN), a sub divisional officer (SDO) and a junior engineer (JE) of the Madhopur sub division irrigation department in Pathankot district after two of the 54 gates of the Madhopur barrage, located downstream of the Ranjit Sagar Dam on the Ravi river, gave way during the heavy rain on August 28.
The barrage, first built in the 19th century and rebuilt in 1959 near Pathankot, regulates the Ravi’s flow. With the Ranjit Sagar Dam filled to the brim, water began outflowing at up to 2.21 lakh cusecs. The floodgates of the barrage were opened when two collapsed under pressure, aggravating floods in the areas downstream. The flooding caused widespread damage to villages and farmland in Punjab and areas across the border in Pakistan.
According to orders issued by secretary, water resources, XEN Nitin Sood, SDO Arun Kumar and JE Sachin Thakur have been placed under suspension. All were posted in the irrigation and ground water division that takes care of the Madhopur headworks.
The action against the three officials comes after the principal secretary, water resources, submitted his probe report to the chief secretary earlier this week.
Earlier, state irrigation and water resources minister Barinder Goyal had blamed a private company hired to certify the strength of the gates for the collapse.
“The Punjab government hired a private firm to assess the strength of the structure. The company told the government that the gates were in perfect condition and would not suffer any damage even if 6.52 lakh cusecs of water were released. But months after the company submitted its report, the gates have collapsed,” Goyal had told reporters after the incident worsened the flood situation in the border belt.
The minister said that after the incident, the government had issued a notice to the company.
