Haryana battling floods, releases more water in Yamuna

CHANDIGARH - As fresh breaches emerged in the Yamuna river in Haryana’s Panipat district and flooded nearly a dozen villages Friday, the Haryana government released over one lakh cusecs of water into the river, an official said.

According to the official, a couple of breaches emerged in the Yamuna embankment near Sanauli village and Patharkhud village.

“Flood waters have entered nearly 12 villages of Panipat district. We have evacuated several victims to nearby safe locations and our rescue work is on at a war-footing,” a spokesperson of the Panipat administration told IANS.

Sources said four teenaged boys were swept away in the fast currents of the Yamuna in Panipat. Two boys were saved by rescue teams while a search for the other two boys is still on.

Besides, fresh breaches also emerged at various places in Sonepat district. Flood waters submerged at least six low-lying villages in Sonepat and inundated acres of agriculture land.

As per government officials, close to 75 villages of Punjab and Haryana were flooded and thousands of acres of farm land inundated as the Yamuna, Satluj and other rivers rose to alarming levels.

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.

Over 60 villages in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district were flooded.

“Flood waters have also damaged national highways. This has badly hit road traffic,” Yamunanagar Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sanghwan told IANS.

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

Besides, flood waters also entered some villages in Ambala.

Ambala deputy commissioner Samir Pal Saro advised people to avoid going near the Tangri and Markanda rivers as it could prove dangerous.

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.”

In Punjab, the Satluj river entered over a dozen villages in Anandpur Sahib sub-division of Ropar district. Flood waters entered these villages through a breach in the embankment near Lodhipur village.

This breach emerged around a month back but the Ropar administration had 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 feet 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 flood 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.