For Ghaggar embankments, Capt Amarinder to meet Central ministers, officials

Blaming the Akalis for the control of Ghaggar river going to the Central Water Commission (CWC), Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said that he would meet Central government ministers and officials to press for reinforcement of the embankments of the river, which had breached to cause serious damage to the standing crops and other assets in Sangrur and Patiala districts.

Calling upon Haryana also to join hands to resolve the issue, the Chief Minister, in a statement, said the bandhs of the Ghaggar on both Punjab and Haryana side need to be strengthened and made motorable, wherever possible, to avoid the repeat of the floods, and the attendant losses and misery, he added.

Pointing out that Punjab had submitted its proposal before the CWC for taming of the Ghaggar six years ago, the Chief Minister said the CWC had, in March 2019, ordered a feasibility study by an independent agency like Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune.

Captain Amarinder was speaking with farmers and media persons in Moonak (Sangrur) and Badshahpur (Patiala) after taking a 360-degree view, from the air, to assess the damage caused as a result of the flooding caused by a breach in the Ghaggar river catchment area, following torrential rains.

The Chief Minister, who flew over Rajpura, Ghanaur, and Shatrana before stopping over at Moonak in Sangrur, said about 50000 acres of the crop had been lost in Patiala and another 10000 acres in Sangrur due to the breach caused in the catchment area of river Ghaggar.