Sultanpur Lodhi: Finally, first breach in Beas river plugged after 21 days

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, August 11

Twenty-one days after a breach at the Beas banks in Baupur Kadim village in Sultanpur Lodhi flooded over 30 villages, the sweat and toil of hundreds of volunteers has paid off. The 600-foot breach at the village was finally plugged amidst cheers today.

Over the weeks, volunteers led by Baba Sukha Singh from Sarhali stood shoulder to shoulder while passing sandbags to plug the breach and when the objective was achieved today, the place echoed with chants of ‘Bole so nihal sat sriakal” and “Satnam waheguru”.

A sea of turbaned men placed the last sandbags to plug the breach. This is the first Sultanpur Lodhi breach that was plugged solely by volunteers.

With his clothes soiled from lifting sandbags through the day, a volunteer, Sukha Singh, thanked the sangat for the feat. He said it would take one more week to plug the remaining breaches along the Beas.

Sukha Singh was summoned by residents of the area to plug the breaches at bundhs in Sultanpur Lodhi bundhs, which were termed temporary and private by the district administration. Hundreds of volunteers worked at Baupur Kadim and Ali Kalan villages in Sultanpur Lodhi and Darewal village in Jalandhar for days together to plug the breaches.

Sukha Singh has been working to plug breaches in Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Sultanpur Lodhi and Ferozepur. His team of hundreds of volunteers comes from Majha, Doaba, Moga, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and other areas.

His work extends to Kalo Mandi village near Gidderpindi in Jalandhar, where floodwaters wreaked havoc, and Munda village in Khandoor Sahib, where the river changed its course.

Lakhs of sandbags were brought in from Moga and Majha. Rendering flood kar sewa, Sukha Singh was also active in the region during the 2019 floods. When Jammu & Kashmir and Gujarat were struck by floods, he had sent relief material to these states.

“We are happy that hard work lasting days has paid off. We were on the verge of completing work at the Baupur breach when banks broke on another site a few days ago,” Sukha Singh told The Tribune. “Some breaches were very difficult to plug, but volunteers worked day and night. Buses full of volunteers came from Majha. The breaches at Ali Kalan and Darewal would be plugged within a week. We have to plug the breach at Kalo Mandi in Jalandhar, too.”

“Sand up to four-five feet has accumulated in fields of many farmers. Everyday people from several villages approach us with this complaint,” he added. “Villagers whose fields are filled with sand must be exempted from mining charges.”

He said, “There is tonnes of silt in rivers, and this causes floods. To avoid floods, silt has to be cleared from rivers.”