Duststorm sweeps away irrigation system

BHATINDA, JUNE 3: The irrigation system in entire Bathinda and parts of Mansa and Muktsar districts collapsed today following 10 big and s...

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BHATINDA, JUNE 3: The irrigation system in entire Bathinda and parts of Mansa and Muktsar districts collapsed today following 10 big and small breaches in Sirhind canal, Bathinda branch, and water channels at various places in the district after last night’s duststorm that lashed the region, uprooting hundreds of trees.

Thousands of acres of land under cultivation in about 100 villages was inundated, causing heavy loss to farmers who had just completed the sowing of cotton, paddy and jowar crops. Over a dozen tubewells were also seen inundated in two to five feet of water, depending upon the height from the ground level. Power and drinking water supply to the affected areas was adversely affected. According to officials, it will take at least ten days to bring the situation back to normal.

The cause of the breaches is stated to be uprooted trees that fell in the minors and distributaries, blocking the course of water. Officials said that the trees on the banks of the water courses are vulnerable to such mishaps. "The uprooted trees in the water channels resulted in spillover, causing breaches at a number of places in the district in a single day," said G.S. Jassal, executive engineer of the Irrigation Department. He said that the fact was brought to the notice of the forest department but to no avail.

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Senior officials, including Deputy Commissioner Jaspal Singh, have visited the affected areas while SDO and JE-level irrigation department officials have been camping at the sites to supervise the plugging operations. Hundreds of labourers were pressed into service to plug the breaches which at a couple of places are as big as 150 feet by 75 feet.

Though water flow from Ropar has been stopped, the officials were finding it hard to release the existing water in open areas.

"Large-scale encroachments at many places in the open are creating hurdles for us," a senior official told The Indian Express. He added that except for the lake near the thermal plant and Sehna, they could not find any place to divert the course of the water.

Besides Sirhind canal (Bathinda branch) where the breach was about 150 feet wide, Raike minor also had a wide breach, about 50 feet wide. Other water channels where minor breaches were reported are Lambi distributary, Behman, Kotbhai, Bathinda distributary in Cantonment, Neor minor, Mehma Mara minor, and Phool channel near Kot Phata. A crane from the Pepsu Roadways Transport Corporation was summoned to lift the trees from the canals.

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Kamaljit Singh, sarpanch of village Beed Behman, whose 60 acres of land are under water, told this reporter that he had just finished the sowing of cotton and paddy crops. "It will be a total loss because the water is unlikely to be cleared from the fields in the next few days," he lamented. Niranjan Singh, ex-sarpanch and a district Congress leader, who was camping at the site, said that the farmers of the affected villages would demand adequate compensation for the loss caused to them without any fault of theirs.

The Indian Express team that visited a few affected areas today found the condition of the water channels in a pitiful condition. Not only cement plaster but bricks have been worn smooth and fallen away at many places.