E-Paper
Sutlej water floods Himachal’s Anandpur Sahib villages
The water of flooded Sutlej entered agricultural fields and flooded houses in Laudhipur and Dasgrain villages.
Water of flooded Sutlej entered several villages of Anandpur Sahib sub-division on Saturday a day after the floodgates of Bhakra dam were thrown open. Heavy rains in the catchment areas of Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh set the river in spate.
The Bhakra dam water level is at 1,674 feet and the dam is releasing 53,200 cusecs (cubic feet per second) water through the floodgates.Till Thursday, the BBMB was releasing 37,000 cusecs from the dam penstocks where power generating turbines are installed. Despite this, the water level increased by four feet in the three days, forcing the board to hold a meeting on Friday and take a decision on opening the flood gates.
The water entered agricultural fields and flooded houses in Laudhipur and Dasgrain villages. Standing crops were damaged in Nikkuwal, Burj, Bela Dhyani, Harsa Bela, Amarpur Bela, Ballowal, Mehndli Kalan, Hariwal, Midhwan Lower, Kotla Lower, Mataur, Chandpur Bela, Shahpur Bela and Gobindpur Bela villages. Several families had to be evacuated through boats at Harsa Bela village.
Rupnagar deputy commissioner Sumeet Jarangal and Anandpur Sahib sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Kanu Garg visited some of the affected villages to take stock of the situation. Jarangal said the district administration was fully prepared to deal with any situation and flood control rooms had been set across the district, which are functioning round the clock.
He said teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been summoned to deal with an emergency.
