Arun Sharma
Ropar, July 13
The flooding due to incessant rain has left a trail of destruction with loss of life, breaches in banks of rivers and canals, damage to roads, uprooting of hundreds of electricity poles and cracks in a large number of houses in more than 350 affected villages.
The authorities said the exact picture of damage to infrastructure and losses suffered by people would be known only in a few days as the officials concerned started a survey only yesterday.
Four persons have lost lives, two of whom were drowned in the strong current of water, which entered towns and villages due to breach in the Siswan and the Budhki, the tributaries of the Sutlej and Sirhind canal.
At least 30 breaches have been reported and roads at 135 places were washed away or caved in, snapping the direct connectivity between Ropar-Chamkaur Sahib and Ropar-Kotla Nihang and Ropar-Surtapur Mand.
In Singhpura village on the Ropar-Chandigarh road, almost every house was flooded, leading to huge losses to residents. Narinderpal Singh said the village witnessed flooding for the first time. A drain near the village was narrowed down due to construction near it which led to flooding of the village, he said.
“The village remained submerged under five feet water for three days, resulting in damaging almost all household goods,” he said.
A nearby house owned by Kulwant Singh has developed cracks as the accumulated water on his backyard weakened the foundation of the building.
At a distance of 7 km from here on the outskirts of Ropar town, the residents of Basant Nagar and Shastri Nagar spent their nights on roof as their houses were submerged for three days. At Sarthali village near Nurpur Bedi, a portion of Mohinder Singh’s newly constructed house caved in.
At Mand Surtapur village, a gurdwara had provided shelter and meal to nearly 100 people for four days as the area remained inaccessible due to a breach in the Siswan and the Budhki. The victims, however, found everything damaged, including clothes and beds, on return to their homes yesterday.
Though the power supply has already been restored to a large number of areas all over the district, still many places have to remain in dark for a few more days as a large number of power supply poles have been uprooted. Ropar PSPCL XEN Vishal Gogna said more than 600 poles had been damaged.
Ropar DC Dr Preeti Yadav said after rescue work, now the focus of the district administration was on repairing the infrastructure and providing relief to victims. All officials concerned had been directed to repair all damaged roads and plug the breaches as soon as possible. A sum of Rs 4 lakh each also had been disbursed to the relatives of two deceased from the Disaster Management Reponse Fund, she said.
Meanwhile, MP and chairman of the Sun Foundation Vikrajit Singh Sahney visited Awankot village and Anandpur Sahib. He donated 50 water-proof tents, food packets, clean drinking water, basic medicines and mosquito repellents. Sahney also donated Rs 50 lakh for a dam for future protection at Burj village.