Over 70,000 people have been affected in Punjab due to the release of water from the Bhakra and Pong dams following heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh.

Following the release of excess water from the Bhakra and Pong dams, many areas in Tarn Taran, Fazilka, and Ferozepur were inundated. The fresh inflow of floodwaters due to heavy discharge from the dams caused breaches at many places as the water level in the Satluj River rose, leading to the weakening of the embankment.

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After visiting the flood-affected border belt of Fazilka and Ferozepur districts on Monday, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the situation was really worrisome.

“Marooned in flood waters, villagers are faced with the destruction of their standing crops and damage to houses. Even livestock is threatened…” Badal said on his X account.

“I am also shocked at the callousness of CM Bhagwant Mann who chose to ferry his boss Arvind Kejriwal to other states at a time when farmers and the poor in Punjab needed him the most. He should ground his chopper and help the distressed by ensuring relief material reaches them immediately,” he said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, the SAD chief demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should be booked for murder for the death of a farmer in the lathi charge on farmers who were trying to enter Chandigarh with their demand for compensation for the damage caused to their paddy crop due to “man-made floods caused by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government”.

Badal said the atrocities on the farmers and farm labourers had crossed all limits. “The farmers are demanding fair compensation for the destruction of their paddy crop across thousands of acres in the state last month and even presently due to arbitrary release of water from the Bhakra and Pong dams,” he said.

“The chief minister is on record to have stated that compensation would be awarded not only for crop loss but also for livestock and damage to houses. It was promised that the compensation would be released by August 15. However, this is still awaited and now the government is trying to dilute the compensation award by fixing a maximum limit of five acres for the grant of compensation. The award itself has been fixed for a puny Rs 6,800 per acre and there is no guarantee of when it will be released as girdwaris are yet to be done,” the SAD chief said.