Seechewal, drainage dept squabble over delay in plugging 900-ft Satluj breach

Jalandhar: Rajya Sabha MP Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal had a confrontation with the drainage department over “a slow plugging” of the second breach in the Satluj’s 900 feet long dhussi bund at this district’s Gatta Mundi Kasu village.On Monday, the superintending engineer wrote to the chief engineer, and on Tuesday, water resources ministry’s principal secretary reported Seechewal to minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer. The SE in Jalandhar wrote to the chief engineer that Seechewal had interrupted the contractor in DC’s presence and claimed that he will get a ‘kar sewa’ group to complete the task. This even when the principal secretary had found the contractor with great difficulty.The SE claimed that despite an alert for more rain, Seechewal had not started with the downstream job, delaying the department by a day. The letter reads: “Seechewal’s interruptions have forced some of the contractors to abandon the job.” The department claims that despite good progress, Seechewal told it to send back the contractors and let his team move in. Seechewal has accused the department of delaying the desilting of Satluj’s riverbed under Gidarpindi railway bridge, which had caused two breaches. Plugging of the second breach continued on Tuesday, with the drainage department given the upstream side, while Seechewal’s volunteers given downstream. Punjab’s Shahi Imam Maulana Muhammad Usman Rehman got there. The MP denied telling any contractor to leave. He claims to be doing this job after consulting local bodies minister Balkar Singh and MP Sushil Rinku. He said: “Barely a few feet of the breach has been plugged. We can’t afford further flooding.”