Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker and Nangal MLA Rana KP Singh has urged the Centre to construct dams on Swan, Sirsa and Mindhawan rivulets, which had caused huge damage to the lives and properties of inhabitants of Roopnagar district and other parts of the state during recent monsoon season.
Rana KP made this demand during his meeting with the Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at his office in New Delhi on late Thursday evening.
In response, the Jal Shakti Minister Shekhawat assured the Speaker to consider the proposal on priority to give relief to the region, especially the people of Roopnagar district.
Underlining the urgent need to construct dams on these three rivulets, the Speaker said that these seasonal rivulets merge in Sutlej River and their flows are free, whenever heavy rain falls in and around the Sutlej catchment area, the inflow of water into these rivulets become major cause of flooding in the area, which affects the livelihood of millions of people in Roopnagar, Ludhiana, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Moga, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur districts besides Una and Bilaspur of Himachal Pradesh.
“Due to non-availability of dams on the rivulets, their water also goes waste to Pakistan from Ferozepur head works,” said the Speaker who also proposed to construct medium size dams on these rivulets to control the problem of floods. He said that the water storage during monsoon season in the proposed dams can be utilized for power generation, irrigation and drinking purposes in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
“Besides uplifting the socio-economic status of the people, it would also contribute in growth of the region through employment, industrial and infrastructural development in the area,” he said while also demanding to channelize these rivulets to curb the soil erosion in the catchment areas which would also preserve the mining resources.