The damaged bridge. (Express Photo)Even though the rainwater has receded in most of the Muktsar villages, the flooding problem hasn’t ebbed away completely as a rain alert has been issued for Tuesday-Saturday in different parts of Punjab.
To add to the water woes, a bridge near Bura Gujjar village of Muktsar was partially damaged because of the rain following which farmers of the area took to the streets to protest against it.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Jagjit Singh Honey Brar Fattanwala on Monday visited many areas of Muktsar to meet the farmers.
Muktsar Deputy Commissioner Vineet Kumar also visited many villages along with Social Security Minister and Malaut MLA, Dr Baljit Kaur, on Monday. Speaking to The Indian Express, Fattanwala said, “My own paddy crop on 33 acres of land in Fattanwala village is still under water.”
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Angrej Singh of Bura Gujjar village said, “One spell of rain on Friday had submerged the whole area. My 10-acre paddy crop is under water and I don’t see any hope as water is draining out slowly.”
Amritpal Singh of the same village is having around 5 acres of his paddy crop under water.
“Not just ours, but many villages of Muktsar are suffering. It’s sad that till now the Punjab CM hasn’t spoken a word about it, let alone girdawari orders,” said Gurmail Singh from the village.
Farmers said that the downpour had partially damaged a small bridge in Bura Gujjar village near Muktsar-Ferozepur highway. It’s high time that the authorities should wake up and start relief measures.
Gurlal Singh and Pritpal Singh of Udaykaran village are waiting for the rainwater to recede or to be drained out from their fields. Over 20 acres of paddy crop of each these farmers is under water.
Fields of over 100 villages of Muktsar district had been in deep water after heavy rain on Friday. However, as per the claims of Muktsar DC, water has been drained out from almost 80 villages, and relief measures are on.
He said, “The bridge near Bura Gujjar village will be repaired soon. It is an after-effect of the heavy rain. Once the water recedes in all villages, the assessment of crop damage can be done. We are concerned about farmers a lot.”
He added, “Orders have been given to assess the damage to houses in the entire district after Friday’s rain.”
Barrage gates built on Sutlej river had also been opened by Pakistan towards their territory. But sources say that the flow of water from Muktsar towards Fazilka (natural flow) is at a slow pace as of now.
In Rajpura also, the rainwater has damaged sunflower crop. Sanyukt Kisan Morcha leader, Dr Darshan Pal, has appealed to the Punjab government to take stock of the situation and give a compensation of Rs 30,000 per acre.
Meanwhile, local AAP MLAs are meeting farmers of these villages, but there’s no official announcement about girdawari
as yet.
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