Flood in Punjab & Haryana worsens

Situation in flood ravaged districts of Punjab and Haryana further worsened today as fresh breaches in Hansi Butana canal in Kaithal and Ghaggar in Sangrur district left several villages marooned even as army and other authorities were trying to plug the breaches.

A 15 feet breach occurred in Hansi Butana canal, some four km from Kaithal town in Haryana, inundating around 40 villages badly, officials said.

Two breaches of about 50 to 60 feet have been created due to gushing waters in Ghaggar river at Rasoli and Naiwala villages in Sangrur district of Punjab, flooding some other 50 villages, they said.


The fresh breaches in Hansi Butana canal and Ghaggar had further compounded problems with army personnel summoned to plug these at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the road traffic on the Ambala-Hisar highway remained disrupted due to a 30 feet breach on road, officials said, adding army personnel were trying hard to restore traffic on the road.

Meanwhile, a senior railway official told here that the rail traffic had been restored on Ambala-Chandigarh railway line.

“Everything is under control...all train services have been restored in the region...few trains are cancelled due to late running of certain other trains,” Ambala’s Railway Commercial Manager G M Singh said.

Over 200 villages in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Sangrur, Patiala and Mohali district are flood-affected.

Reports from flood-hit areas of Kurukshetra and Ambala in Haryana and Ludhiana in Punjab said that the water levels had been receding at a snail pace, however, many places still remained submerged under around ten feet of water.

Army, district administration, social organisations and villagers are working hard to plug existing breaches in Satluj Yamuna Link in Kurukshetra district, three in Tangri river in Ambala district and two in Ghaggar in Sangrur district.

The Met office had predicted rainfall at isolated places in parts of Punjab and Haryana during the next few hours.

Haryana Pillokhera received 30 mm of rainfall followed 17 mm in Sadaura, 9 mm in Karnal, 4 mm in Jind and 2 mm in Sonepat.

Reports from Sonepat said that the Yamuna is flowing in its full furry and people living close to the banks of the river had been advised to shift to safer places.

In Punjab, Barnala had 16 mm of rainfall, whereas Dera Bassi got by 6 mm.