Drains vulnerable to breaches in the face of poor repair work, flood threat looms

PATIALA: The huge losses caused by floods in this district last year have apparently taught district authorities no lesson as the administration is still unprepared to stem the flow of water while monsoons have already hit the district.
The increase in water levels in various canals after arrival of monsoon is giving sleepless nights to hundreds of villagers of the district.There are around 800 "weak points" along the 225-km stretch of BML in Punjab. Of this, around 150 are in Fatehgarh Sahib district. In the absence of proper repairs, farmers of adjoining villages have been attempting to plug these weak points on their own and at many places, cracks were filled with sand bags during the last few months.
There are around 14 seasonal drains and rivulets including Pacchi Dara, Ghaggar, Tangri, Markanda, Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) and Bhakhra mainline (BML), passing through the district. Due to lack of proper cleaning, there is wild growth inside all these drains.
"Ask the officers to at least come here once to check these big plants growing on Markanda river bed. The river had caused huge devastation last year. We are yet to recover our losses while the administration has forgotten everything and is yet to clean it," alleged Shamsher singh, who works in fields near Budhmor village.
Patiala has got a budget of Rs 1.50 crore for cleaning seasonal rivulets, but majority of drains are yet to see any proper cleaning or repairs, while the work done this year has already come under the scanner. Some Samana residents alleged that BML was not repaired properly and concerned officials allegedly misappropriated lakhs after undertaking nominal work.
"We demand a high level inquiry into the repair of BML as the repaired places have already developed cracks within days of repair," demanded Mukhtiar Singh, a farmer, working along on the banks of BML near Samana.
When contacted, Patiala executive engineer of drainage department, BPS Brar, said they have completed 60% cleaning of all canals. "Our deadline is June 30 and we are trying to complete the work at the earliest" claimed Brar. As per estimates prepared by Patiala district administration, farmers of around 200 villages of the district have lost around 1. 24 lakh acres of paddy worth around Rs 63 crore in recent floods.