Punjab floods: Congress’s Warring alleges mismanagement of dams

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has slammed the State government for the flood situation in parts of the State, saying mismanagement of dams and water headworks were responsible for it.

He asked why water was allowed to accumulate in the dams upstream and not released on time in a phased manner despite a forecast of heavy rains. It is more of a “criminal negligence” than an unforeseen natural disaster, he said.

Mr. Warring, who visited various flood-hit parts of Punjab over the last three days, said tens of thousands of people have been rendered homeless, many have lost their lives and the loss of crops and livestock is yet to be assessed.

“Why was the water not released [from the dams] gradually in advance, so that the dams could later hold the extra water?” he asked.

Had it been done on time, the extent of devastation could have been minimised, he said.

Referring to the crashing of two floodgates of the Madhopur headworks in Pathankot, he alleged that it happened because of poor maintenance.

Since extra water from the headworks was also not released on time, it led to huge pressure and eventually the gates crashed, the Ludhiana MP claimed.

The Congress leader called for fixing responsibility for this disaster and punishing those guilty.

“We do not expect people in responsible positions to not act in time and that too at such critical times,” he said.

Parts of Punjab have been ravaged by floods caused by the swollen Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets due to heavy rain in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar districts are the worst hit.