PATIALA: A group of alert farmers on Sunday foiled an attempt being made by some miscreants to dig up a tunnel and connect it with
bhakhra canal in
Harigarh Ghaelan village near
khanauri segment to cause flooding.
Late Sunday evening, the farmers spotted a cloth covering up a ditch in an open area near the Bhakhra canal. As they lifted the cloth they discovered a tunnel that was 2.5 feet wide and dug up eight feet under the ground towards the bhakra canal. The length of the canal was found to be 13 feet.
These farmers immediately reported the matter to the local police following which area SHO
Pritpal Singh and DSP
Moonak Ajay Kumar reached the spot and started investigations.
The police said the area where tunnel was being dug up was a secluded one. They said that they had immediately started investigating the matter to identify the persons who were trying to use this tunnel to break the bhakra canal to cause flooding of the area.
As the word about the tunnel having been discovered near the canal spread around the villagers, a large number of people gathered at the spot.
The police said that they had questioned a number of villages to ascertain If anyone had seen the miscreants working at the site. However, the cops had not made any breakthrough till the filing of this report.
Sources said that this could be a conspiracy to cause damage to a large number of villages in the khanauri segment by causing flooding.
The police said that it was too early to comment on the real motive behind digging up of the tunnel but attempt to cause flooding appeared to be the only reason behind digging up of the tunnel.
DSP Ajay Kumar said that the cops have registered a case against unidentified persons and started investigating the matter.