Best Lawyers in Chandigarh Sutlej fury fuelled by mining, encroachments

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 31

The calamity that struck Punjab on August 18, when heavy downpour led to rise in water level of the Sutlej and Beas, could have been averted to a large extent. The encroachments on riverbeds and along the banks of the Sutlej, large-scale mining of sand and inability of the government in clearing crops, poplar tree plantations and wild growth from riverbeds collectively led to the massive flooding in six districts.

Admitting that there have been lapses by the successive state governments, the Capt Amarinder Singh government is now willing to right the wrongs, and avoid such disasters in future.

Though the Sutlej and Beas were in spate following a heavy downpour, had the successive governments kept tabs on the said violations, it is likely that the damage and flooding would not have been as massive as witnessed now.

Wherever the ownership of dried-up riverbeds is in private hands, farmers have gone for poplar plantation or grown crops. And the tracts of land where ownership rests with the government, the drainage wing of the Department of Water Resources, working on a skeletal budget, failed to clear the wild vegetation.

The Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, meant to regulate irrigation, navigation and drainage, is clear that even at places where ownership is in private hands, the government has the power to prohibit and remove obstructions in the natural flow of water and recover the cost from the owner. Government officials agree that the Act has barely been put to use in recent past, leading to tree plantations and overgrowth of vegetation in river beds, that obstructed the gushing waters and led to flooding along embankments.

Official sources have told The Tribune that the state government had allocated Rs 100 crore to the drainage wing for this year, of which over Rs 30 crore was spent for relining the river banks and a similar amount for cleaning the drains. 

Since the project of Rs 418 crore to clear the riverbeds of encroachments and for flood management programme in the two rivers, is pending with the Central Water Commission (CWC), the state had no resources.

Trees and wild growth obstructed the flow of water in the Sutlej, where not just BBMB released water to protect the dam, but water flowing in from the Swan (89,000 cusecs) and Siswan (65,000 cusecs) rivers, too led to the overflowing of the river.

Officials admit that another major reason behind flooding was mining. Illegal miners seem to have weakened dhussi bundhs. The BBMB authorities have often said mining was a serious issue. Even World Bank had earlier refused to fund a project for channelising the seasonal rivulets that flow into the Sutlej because of mining (legal and illegal).

At many places, large tracts of riverbeds have been encroached by squatters as well as colonisers. Over 1.47 lakh acres of the Sutlej floodplain (land adjacent to the river) has been encroached upon. Sources say that the Sutlej river, as it meanders downstream thins to a width of just 20 ft from 100 ft as it nears Ropar, especially near the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). With illegal construction remaining unchecked for decades, this too contributed to flooding as unprecedented discharge of water was witnessed.

Survey begins in Phillaur, Shahkot

• The Jalandhar administration has started the process to conduct girdawari in flood-hit villages to assess the loss suffered by farmers and locals.
• Teams of revenue officers have started the process in Phillaur and Shahkot subdivisions.
• DC Varinder Kumar Sharma said as per preliminary report, crops in 82 villages in the district had been destroyed due to floods. He said of these, 52 villages were in Shahkot and 30 in Phillaur. oc

Best Lawyers in Chandigarh High Court