The inter-ministerial central government team, deputed to assess flood-affected areas in Punjab, began its tour from Fazilka on Thursday.
The team met commissioner Manjit Singh Brar, deputy commissioner Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu, and SSP Gurmeet Singh and toured the flood-affected areas. As many as 80 villages have been affected by floods in the district, damaging crops over 17,786 hectares.
The Union home ministry had set up teams each for Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand, to assess damage caused by heavy rainfall, floods, flash floods, cloudbursts, and landslides.
The central teams will be led by a joint secretary-level officer in the home ministry/National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) comprise senior officials from the ministries/departments of expenditure, agriculture and farmers’ welfare, jal shakti, power, road transport and highways, and rural development.
The delegation travelled by boat to villages across the Sutlej creeks, conducting on-ground assessments of damage. The team comprised Sudeep Dutta, under secretary, ministry of rural development, Lakshman Ram Buldak, director, agriculture; Prakash Chand, deputy director, ministry of jal Shakti, and RK Tiwari, CEA, ministry of power.
The team also inspected Noor Shah, Ghurka, Kawanwali Patan, and adjoining areas, reviewing crop losses, damaged houses, and destruction of basic infrastructure.
The team will visit Ferozepur on Friday, followed by Tarn Taran on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the swollen Sutlej continued to torment Ferozepur and Fazilka districts. The discharge from Harike Headworks came down by 27,000 cusecs in the past 24 hours, but the floodwaters have already engulfed 112 villages in Ferozepur and 80 villages in Fazilka, with water levels in some areas rising as high as 7ft.
Women and children have largely been evacuated from the flood-hit areas, but hundreds of men and youth have stayed behind to protect their cattle. “If our animals die, our survival ends too,” said a villager, echoing the fears of many.
Army, BSF, and NDRF teams are on relentless rescue duty, while late Thursday evening, another 3.22 lakh cusecs was discharged from Hussainiwala Headworks towards Pakistan, worsening the threat downstream.
At Habibke village near Ferozepur city for the past four days, locals and volunteers from districts across Punjab, Haryana, and even Rajasthan are working shoulder to shoulder with army engineers to stack sandbags and reinforced weak stretches of the LMB embankment.
Similar scenes are visible at Ruknewala, Gatta Badshah, and Pachaadiya, where villagers have refused to give up. At the Indo-Pak border, water has submerged the Zero Line near BOP Pachaadiya, crashing against embankments.
Meanwhile, in flood-hit Mallanwala’s Hamad Chak village, families are forced to live on rooftops under makeshift shelters. “Mosquitoes are everywhere. We need tarpaulins and nets. The old and young are falling sick,” said Pritpal Singh, a resident.
Ferozepur civil surgeon Dr Rajwinder Kaur said teams are regularly visiting villages and relief camps. “The health department teams have so far organised 576 medical camps, providing medicines to over 12,000 patients affected by floods in the district,” he said.