Punjab Floods Ravage 1,000+ Villages, Over 61,000 Hectares of Farmland Submerged

Floods in Punjab have impacted more than 61,000 hectares of farmland and more than 1,000 villages, with the greatest number occurring in the district of Gurdaspur.

According to PTI, the NDRF, Army, BSF, and district officials have worked together to evacuate 11,330 persons from the flood-affected districts to safer locations thus far.

Due to excessive rainfall in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers, as well as seasonal rivulets, have swelled, causing major floods in Punjab.  The districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, and Amritsar saw the worst water damage.

To assess the relief and rescue efforts, State Chief Secretary K A P Sinha visited the Pong dam on the Beas and flood-affected districts in Hoshiarpur's Mukerian subdivision on Saturday.

In order to minimise problems for those downstream, the chief secretary, accompanied by senior officials, examined the dam and instructed personnel to rigorously manage water output on technical criteria while taking the inflow into consideration. Additionally, he requested that they continue to be watchful and conduct 24-hour surveillance.

According to officials, 1,018 villages in the state have already been impacted by floods.

Pathankot has 81, Fazilka has 52, Tarn Taran has 45, Sri Muktsar Sahib has 64, Sangrur has 22, Ferozepur has 101, Kapurthala has 107, Gurdaspur has 323, Hoshiarpur has 85, and Moga has 35, they said.

Crop destruction and livestock loss have also resulted in significant financial losses for the state.

16,632 hectares of farmland in Fazilka, 10,806 hectares in Ferozepur, 11,620 hectares in Kapurthala, 7,000 hectares in Pathankot, 9,928 hectares in Tarn Taran, and 5,287 hectares in Hoshiarpur have been impacted, according to reports from the district headquarters.

PTI reported that so far, 11,330 people have been rescued from areas affected by flooding.

These include 2,819 from Ferozepur, 1,052 from Hoshiarpur, 240 from Kapurthala, 4,771 from Gurdaspur, 24 from Moga, 1,100 from Pathankot, 60 from Tarn Taran, 25 from Barnala, and 1,239 from Fazilka, they said.

As many as 4,711 flood-affected people were evacuated and shifted to safer places during the past 24 hours, they further said. These include 812 residents of Ferozepur, 2,571 from Gurdaspur, 4 from Moga, 60 from Tarn Taran, 25 from Barnala, and 1,239 from Fazilka.

Currently, 77 relief camps are fully operational out of 87 set up in flood-affected areas, providing shelter to 4,729 people.

The administration is taking care of all the essential needs of these people, said the officials.

Four camps are housing 110 people in Kapurthala, eight camps housing 3,450 people in Ferozepur, twenty camps housing 478 people in Hoshiarpur, twelve active camps housing 255 people in Gurdaspur, fourteen camps housing 411 people in Pathankot, one camp housing 25 people in Barnala, eleven camps in Fazilka, five in Moga, and two in Amritsar.

With enthusiastic community backing, the NDRF, SDRF, Punjab Police, and Army are all contributing significantly to the activities.

There are seven NDRF teams stationed in Gurdaspur, two in Pathankot, and one each in Fazilka and Ferozepur.  Two teams from SDRF have been sent to Kapurthala.

The chief secretary was accompanied by Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Krishan Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain and Senior Superintendent of Police Sandeep Kumar Malik.

Later, Sinha visited the 'Dhussi bundh' -- earthen embankment-- between Haled and Motla villages in Mukerian, and said strengthening of such embankments was being undertaken by the water resources department.

PTI reported that he assured the affected people that the state government was committed to extending every possible help to them.

The DC briefed the chief secretary about the ongoing relief operations being carried out with the support of the Red Cross, NGOs and volunteers.

Jain said food, medical aid, relief material and other essential services were being provided to the affected families.

She informed that teams from the revenue, health, animal husbandry, water resources and other departments have been deployed round-the-clock to ensure no affected person faces any shortage of food, medicines or shelter.