Punjab Desk
6 September
Journalist Sandeep Dhand Ludhiana
People in Punjab are closely watching the water levels of their rivers as floods continue to create fear and damage. According to today’s drainage department report, the water in Sutlej River is slowly decreasing, but the Beas River is rising. At 5 am, the Beas was flowing with 1,67,998 cusecs of water, and by 6 am, it increased to 1,72,009 cusecs. However, the level has remained steady after that.
On the other hand, the Sutlej River has shown some relief. At 4 am, the water at Gidderpindi bridge was 1,22,000 cusecs, which reduced to 1,16,000 cusecs, and by 8 am, it came down further to 1,10,000 cusecs. People still fear that more water might be released from dams in the coming hours, which could worsen the situation.
In the last 36 hours, no human lives have been lost, bringing slight comfort to families. With reduced rainfall in Punjab and hilly regions, some relief has come. But the damage so far has been massive: 43 deaths in 14 districts, 21,929 people evacuated, and 196 relief camps set up for over 7,100 people. Nearly 1.72 lakh hectares of farmland has been destroyed, affecting 1,948 villages and more than 3.84 lakh people across 22 districts.