Dozen Punjab villages flooded as Satluj breaches bank

CHANDIGARH - Nearly a dozen villages in Punjab’s Ropar district were flooded as the overflowing Satluj river breached its banks near Laudipur village, officials said Monday.

More water was released from the Bhakra Dam reservoir Sunday as its spillways were opened to maintain the water level in the reservoir, officials of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) said. But this led to the flooding and several acres of agriculture land was also inundated in Ropar, some 45 km from here.

officials in Ropar said villagers were being rescued from the affected areas in the Anandpur Sahib sub-division.

“Our rescue operation is on and we are working day and night to plug the breach that emerged a few days back in Laudipur village. Our officials have made all safety arrangements and they are closely monitoring the situation,” Ropar Deputy Commissioner A.S. Miglani told IANS.

The affected villages include Laudipur, Burj, Hariwal, Mataur, Chandpur, Mehndi Kalan, Kalyanpur, Badhal, Nikkuwal and Ballowal.

The Bhakra Dam’s spillways were opened to the height of two feet after the water level reached 1,680-feet, the maximum storage mark in the dam reservoir.

BBMB officials said that they would continue releasing water through spillways, depending on the inflow of water from the catchment area.

“We will continue releasing excess water so that we can maintain the level of 1,680 feet till Sep 10. Yesterday (Sunday), we had released around 12,000 cusecs of water; we can increase or decrease the quantity of water released depending on the inflow,” BBMB joint director V.P. Sharma said.

The Bharka Dam is located in Himachal Pradesh, along the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border, about 130 km from Chandigarh.

Earlier, the BBMB released excess water into the Satluj by opening its spillways from Aug 21 to 27. Release of water in the Satluj posed a threat of floods to the low-lying areas of Ropar district and the Sikh holy towns of Anandpur Sahib and Kiratpur Sahib.