The rising dam water levels due to heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh have led to flooding in downstream areas of Beas and Satluj rivers in various districts of Punjab. The state government has ordered a special girdawari of the flood-affected areas to assess the extent of damage.
Floods have inundated around 90,884 acres across 150 villages in seven districts of the state. Fazilka is the worst-hit with Satluj waters damaging crops over 32,762 acres. In the Sultanpur Lodhi area of Kapurthala, the swollen Beas has submerged 20,005 acres of farmland, while in Chola Sahib, Patti and Khadoor Sahib areas of Tarn Taran, 18,920 acres have been submerged.
Though controlled release of water is being done from the Pong Dam for almost a week now, 71,794 cusec water was released on Thursday. From Bhakra Dam, 43,300 cusecs of water was released on Thursday. The inflow at Pong Dam on Thursday was 64,705 cusecs, while it was 52,634 cusecs at Bhakra Dam.
As a result, the water flow at Harike, where the Beas and the Satluj meet, reached 94,929 cusecs, while it was 82,725 cusecs at the Hussainiwala barrage, leading to flooding of several Ferozepur and Fazilka villages. In Fazilka, crops across 28,952 acres remain submerged, while another 3,810 acres along the Satluj banks have also been affected. A total of 34 villages have been affected by rising Satluj waters in Ferozepur. In Tarn Taran district, 40 villages between Bhalojala and Muthianwala are submerged. Chola Sahib is the worst affected with 11,345 acres flooded. Crops on 3,000 acres have been destroyed in Munda Pind and Johal Dhaiwala.
In the Doaba region, the swollen Beas hasd flooded many areas in Sultanpur Lodhi and Tanda. Water flow at Passi near Tanda was 1,15,226 cusecs, while it was 1,19,403 cusecs at Dhilwan. Flooding in Tanda has submerged 988 acres of farmland. In Kapurthala district, 63 villages have been affected by flooding. State ministers have been sent to the affected regions to take stock of the situation and distribute relief material.
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