Fear has gripped residents of villages located near the drains or sakki naalas which have not been cleaned by the Gurdaspur Irrigation Department ahead of monsoon. The residents say that one spell of heavy rain can cause flood-like situation and their crops would be damaged if the water overflowed from drains enter their fields.
For cleaning of drains, the State Government has sanctioned Rs1.20 crore. As per the available information, there are around 121 drains in Gurdaspur district. Irrigation Department’s XEN Raghubir Singh, confirming the sanctioned amount, said that the work would be started soon. He maintained that proper work would be done with full transparency.
The department’s SDO Jai Pal Singh Bhinder said that the work could not started yet, as “we had demanded Rs 4.50 crore for the entire work, but only Rs1.20 crore has been sanctioned which is quite less”. Bhinder said that Nabipur drain will not be cleaned this year. “The work of cleanliness of drains is done in rotation. The drains, which would be cleaned this year, will be cleaned after three years. In Gurdaspur, there are 66 drains, 14 in Batala and remaining are in Amritsar,” he said.