Army of unsung heroes race against time to plug breaches

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, July 13

Beads of sweat on his face, a middle-aged man, tired of hurling burly 10 kg sacks all day through, reclines against the damp mud of the Gidarpindi Dhussi bundh to catch his breath after hours of back-breaking work. A youth hardly 16-17 years old, cradles a roti in his young hands to partake of a langar, his rare break from days of long work. Another lies sprawled on the dry mud and yet others gulp down copious volumes of water with eager eyes, hurrying to go back to arranging sacks on a hot humid day.

Plugging the bundh

Two main breaches in the district are at Mandala Channa (300 feet wide) and Gatta Mudi Kasu (953 feet wide). Both happened on the night of July 10 after which the deluge filled the flood affected area. Monday night also witnessed Seechewal’s FB live as hundreds of his men worked to stem the flow of the ever rising waters at Dhakka Basti. After that, all the energy has been concentrated on plugging the Mandala Channa and Gatta Mudi Kasu breaches. Unlike 2019, when a majority of the men in uniform were seen plugging the breaches, this year even random drone footage shows a deluge of turbaned men — none in uniform — piling on sacks and laying iron wires to stop the waters from flooding Jalandhar’s villages.

The temperature at the bundh feels at least 2-3 degrees higher than the rest of the city, with the sun beating down on the bundh and the river, mist emanating from the sludgy deluge and the unusual stickiness making it a thankless environment to work in, day and night.

However, a motley crew of men, summoned at short notice to plug the breaches on the Dhussi bandh at Gidarpindi are the real unsung heroes of the 2023 floods.

600 MGNREGA volunteers on job

As many as 600 MGNREGA volunteers have been working on the bundhs and at four other places preparing mud sacks to plug the breaches. At the bundh alone, 100 are at work. The Mandala Channa bundh will be plugged in 3-4 days. And the Gatta Mundi Kasu bundh will take 8 to 9 days. As many as 50,000 sacks per day will be pressed in from Friday onwards at the bundhs. From Friday onwards, we will also begin the tying of sacks at 11 places in 11 blocks. The Gatta Mundi Kasu bundh is 953 feet long and will need 200 to 250 extra bit of plugging, hence it will take longer.

Vishesh Sarangal, DC Jalandhar

While hundreds of men are volunteers who began work under MP Balbir Singh Seechewal to strengthen the bundhs even before they breached, others have also walked in of their own accord, from Sultanpur Lodhi, Harike, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Mehatpur, Nakodar and other villages to perform sewa. A walk through the bundhs is both a revelation of the suffering of villagers and the indomitable spirit of the Sikhs to take on the biggest of calamities head on. The plugging of the breaches is a race against time.

Seechewal himself has been a constant fixture at the bundh — making rounds on his boats, checking on volunteers, overseeing the wire meshes being tied and organising relief.

Gurtegh Singh, a teenager from Rassolpur village in Nakodar, who has been plugging breaches from Day 1, is part of Seechewal’s vounteers. He says, “I just came here to do sewa after we heard about the floods in the villages. I have been working since Monday. We sleep at a shelter provided by Babaji at night which was set up in 2019 floods. Rest, we have food breaks and catch a nap between work at the bundh.”

There are some who even caught a night’s sleep at the bundh itself.

Sandeep Singh from the Kuttiwala village in Harike Pattan, came specially to check on his relatives in Gidderpindi. Once here, he began working to plug a breach by the Gidderpindi highway on Wednesday. “Our relatives’ village was flooded, so we had to check on them and provide help. Forty of us from Harike Pattan have come in. At the time of calamity, it is the sangat that helps each other out.”

Naveen Anand from Mehatpur came in with his tractor just to bring in supplies and drives up and down the Dhussi bundh at Gidderpindi. Gurvinder Singh, who is in the Army, says he came from Amritsar to offer help.