Punjab Water Resources Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria on Wednesday said that 12 breaches have been successfully plugged so far and the work of plugging remaining breaches is on at war footing and they will also be plugged in coming days. Notably, due to heavy rains the Sutlej River had been flooded.The Minister also donated his one month’s salary into Chief Minister Relief Fund for relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims.Mr. Sarkaria said that this natural calamity has caused major damage to the state, but with the concerted efforts of Punjab Government and volunteers of various organizations 12 breaches have been successfully plugged. He said that the officials of his department had also played an active role in plugging these breaches.The Minister further revealed that 9 breaches at Meowal and Mau Sahib villages in Phillaur sub division were successfully plugged, and the work of plugging 168 feet wide breach at Bholewal village in Ludhiana district was completed on Saturday. Two breaches were also plugged at Kishanpura village in Moga district, he added.
Mr. Sarkaria also said that massive resources have been mobilized to plug around 500 feet wide breach at Janian Chahal village of Jalandhar district, and the work of plugging 200 feet wide breach at Sangowal village is also being carried out at war footing. The work of plugging three breaches in Ropar district at Bhaowal (50 feet wide breach), Khairabad (150 feet) and Surtapur (60 feet) villages is also under progress.To tackle the situation, the Minister said, Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineers are in the field round the clock from August 21. It is pertinent to mention that Water Resources Minister also made six visits to the flood-hit areas to review the work of plugging breaches.To carry out emergency repair and restoration of embankments of Sutlej River, Mr. Sarkaria said, the Superintendent Engineers have been authorized to make purchases and engage labour up to Rs 2 crore in their area of responsibility.The Chief Engineer Drainage Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta said that technical guidance for the whole breach plugging operation was being provided by Water Resources Department's drainage wing and no stone would be left unturned in the breach plugging operation.