Rebuilt flood-hit ravines: Villagers to Seechewal

Sultanpur Lodhi, March 10

More than 55 villages of the flood-affected area on Saturday demanded from Rajya Sabha MP Balbir Singh Seechewal and Aam Aadmi Party in-charge of Shahkot Assembly segment Rajinder Pandori that 18 to 20 feet of silt under the Gidderpindi railway bridge should be removed.

Remove silt under Gidderpindi rly bridge

• People are demanding that the problems of these villages should be resolved as soon as possible so that residents can be saved from loss of life and property.
• They said the embankment should be strengthened and it should not break in future, hence, the work of removing silt from below the railway bridge of Gidderpindi should also be started immediately because this silt causes floods in this area every time.

People said they did not want to be displaced due to the negligence of the administration. They handed over this demand letter to Seechewal on Saturday. Seechewal has instructed the officials concerned to resolve this demand of the area on priority basis.

The MP Balbir Singh Seechewal said bandh had broken at two places near Gatta Mundi Kasu and Mandala Chhana villages, both of which were built with the help of volunteers in record time. He said during the third phase of kar seva, which was started to fill the potholes in the farmers’ lands, a fair-like atmosphere was once again created at the dhusi bandh on the river Sutlej. Youth from all over Punjab are again arriving to participate in this service.

There are dozens of villages, including Gatta Mundi Kasu, Bhanewal, Mandala, Mundi Cholian, Mundi Shehrian, Chak Wadala near the banks of Sutlej. In these villages, the risk of bandh breakage is highest during the rainy season. Last year, these villages suffered a lot due to the breach of bandh near Gatta Mundi Kasu village and similarly, during the floods during the year 2019, the Punjab government suffered a loss of Rs 1,200 crore.

There is a strong demand of the villagers that the ravines destroyed by the flood in Sutlej should be rebuilt. Stone studs and spurs should be constructed along the banks of dhusi bandh as these studs/spurs and notches help in the safety of bandh. Eight months have passed since the flood, but the work of making these has not yet started. The people here are still in trouble due to lack of development of the main settlement. The schoolchildren studying there face a lot of trouble in commuting.