Haryana: Floods wreak havoc at 6 villages in Barara block of Ambala

AMBALA: Floods have wreaked havoc as six villages -- including Hema Majra, Ghelri, Tandwal, Gola-Goli, Brahman Majra and Hamidpur -- under Barara block in Haryana's Ambala district have been completely submerged by the seasonal Markanda and Begna rivers on Monday. The rivers were flowing to capacity on Sunday, with the villages on the banks of Markanda being the worst-affected.
Ambala irrigation department executive engineer Parveen Kumar Gupta said, “On Sunday, the maximum water levels in Tangri and Markanda were recorded at 16,000 cusecs and 64,530 cusecs respectively. On Monday, the Tangri was flowing at 5,500 cusecs and Markanda at 22,000 cusecs.”

Markanda water entered from Hema Majra village due to lack of protection or embankment during the night and flooded the downstream villages Ghelri and Tandwal.
Anger prevails among the villagers against the administration as no officials have visited them.

National Highway (NH) 344 (Ambala-Roorkee) was also shut on the one side as the natural flow of rainwater from Gola village side was obstructed by the highway in the absence of any drainage pipes under the road even amid waterlogging which obstructed the traffic. The irrigation officials said it was Begna river water which overflowed and submerged Brahman Majra, Hamidpur and Gola-Goli villages.

Usha Rani, sarpanch from Hema Majra, said, “Whenever the Markanda flows at full capacity, its water enters residential areas and agricultural fields through our village in the absence of an embankment at the river.”

Parveen Kumar, sarpanch from Ghelri village, said, the water started entering "our village in the evening at 7pm on Sunday and till Monday afternoon, the water continued to increase." Roofs of three houses have fallen and luckily no one is hurt. We lost connection with Barara, following which we had to cut the road to reduce the water level. "The agricultural fields are completely under the floodwaters.”

Ambala revenue officer Captain Vinod Sharma said that around six villages of Barara and Mullana areas were affected due to the instant flow of Markanda and Begna rivers.
When asked about NH waterlogging, he said, “We have written to the chief secretary to ask the National Highways Authority of India to construct an underpass.”