Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 28
A high-powered committee on purchases on Wednesday approved several pumping sets, including 75 electric ones and 175 diesel ones, to drain out rainwater.
To put this into perspective, consider this: the monsoon has already set in and a heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted in eight districts of Haryana in the next four days.
The delayed placement of order raises question on the state’s preparedness for preventing floods in the Ghaggar river.
Ghaggar has been bringing miseries for people living along its 350-km length in Punjab and Haryana, though magnitude of its fury varies year to year depending on the rainfall in its catchments areas.
In the past 60 years, people in Kaithal, Sirsa, Fatehabad and Panchkula faced the fury of floods22 times.
Besides, some drains have been causing problems for residents in Ambala and other districts. People in Fatehabad and Sirsa districts, where 140 km of Ghaggar’s length passes through, are a worried lot.
“The memories of 2010 are still fresh. Then, the village was submerged under 3 to 10 ft of water due to a breach in the Ghaggar. Looking at the vulnerability of the river’s embankments, it seems the authorities have not learnt any lesson from the past,” said Neeraj, a resident of Sirsa’s Bani village.
Sirsa and Fatehabad DCs recently reviewed preparations for floods in their districts and issued directions to officials responsible for flood control.
Sirsa DC Prabhjot Singh visited Musahibwala, Farwai and other flood-prone villages. Villagers said they took it upon themselves to maintain the 11-km ring bandh from Musahibwala to Farwai after the Irrigation Department washed off its hands from the work.
Fatehabad DC Hardeep Singh told officials of the Disaster Management Department to keep ready life jackets, boats, oars, batteries and mikes in the time of need.
Phool Singh Nain, Chief Engineer, Irrigation, said: “There are more than 500 drains in the state. The cleaning of all drains is in progress.”
On the delayed purchase of pumping sets, he said his department had sent the demand in advance.
Nain said 59 projects worth Rs 36.71 crore were approved for Panchkula, Ambala, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa for cleaning of Ghaggar and other drains.
The course of a river
- Originating from Shivalik Hills of Himachal, the Ghaggar makes serpentine way from east to southwest though several districts of Punjab and Haryana to enter Rajasthan and then travel to Pakistan
- Ghaggar has been bringing miseries for people living along its 350-km length, though magnitude of its fury varies year to year depending on the rainfall in its catchments areas
- The floods in the Ghaggar basin are frequent and furious because of very gentle slope and lack of horizontal drainage
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2IEpGfS
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