M A I N   N E W S

Canal repair work throws up surprises
A decomposed body, 7 luxury cars, cycles, gold and silver ornaments found
Aman Sood
Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 20
Twenty-year-old Rattan, who dived into the shallow water body in search of treasure near Samana, was horrified to find a decomposed body on the riverbed. He rushed out to inform the police. Local divers went into the water channel and recovered the body.

From a corpse to luxury cars to gold ornaments, the ongoing repair work (to continue for another couple of days) at the Bhakra Main Line (BML) Canal is throwing up several surprises.

Having been taken up after almost a decade, the repair and maintenance of the BML Canal has resulted in shallow waters with the water supply severed from the main feeder.

The operation started on April 3 and is to be complete by April 22. The local police has solved a murder case since the operation began and launched investigations into over dozen more such cases.

Residents of nearby villages have turned divers in search of a booty. “I found a gold ring, a gold coin and silver ear rings from the riverbed last week,” said an excited Pargat. Another resident had found a bicycle, he claimed.

The police has also recovered more than seven luxury cars, a large number of cycles and a score of motor cycles and scooters, according to a constable at the Passiana police station.

The police is now trying to trace the owners of the vehicles. The CIA in charge Sukhminder Singh Chauhan said the police had solved a case with the recovery of the body of a resident of Dadrala from the canal. Two brothers have been arrested in the case.

AS Dullat, Chief Engineer, Irrigation, said :"While originally Punjab got 13.43 per cent of the total 12,455 cusecs, the proposed share for the state now is 15.81 per cent”.