 Early Times Report
NEW DELHI, July 29: Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Satnam Singh Sandhu raised the issue of recurrent floods in Punjab through a Special Mention in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, urging the Union Government to formulate an integrated flood management mechanism for the region. Calling for a long-term and scientific approach to flood mitigation, MP Satnam Sandhu sought the establishment of a legally backed joint flood management mechanism for Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, supported by real-time reservoir monitoring, advanced flood forecasting and time-bound desilting of major reservoirs.
Drawing the attention of the House to the growing challenge of siltation in major reservoirs, MP Satnam Singh Sandhu said, "Bhakra Dam was originally constructed with a storage capacity of 9.27 billion cubic metres but it has lost nearly 2.13 billion cubic metres of its storage capacity due to heavy siltation. At several locations in the Gobind Sagar reservoir, the silt deposits have reached depths of nearly 100 to 200 feet that has reduced the reservoir's water-holding capacity and increasing the risk of floods during periods of heavy rainfall."
Citing the widespread destruction caused by the 2023 monsoon floods, MP Satnam Sandhu said, "Twenty-one out of 23 districts of Punjab were affected by floods and more than 1,400 villages were inundated with over 2 lakh hectares of agricultural land went under water. In the devastating floods more than 4 lakh people were affected and 50 people lost their lives. Rescue operations by the NDRF, SDRF, the Army and the Air Force led to the evacuation of over 20,000 people."
Praising the Union Government for reviving and completing the nearly three-decade-old Shahpurkandi Dam Project under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, MP Satnam Singh Sandhu said, "The successful completion of the Shahpurkandi Dam project demonstrates that political will can overcome even decades-old challenges. The project remained pending for nearly three decades before being revived after 2014. In December 2018, the Union Government approved its implementation and sanctioned Rs 485.38 crore through NABARD proving that long-pending infrastructure projects can be delivered through coordinated government action and decisive policy intervention." |
