Army and civil teams formed to flood-proof Ludhiana.

Ludhiana: A sweeping civil and defence mobilisation is on to protect the city from catastrophic monsoon flooding, threatening severe disciplinary action against bureaucrats who delay preparation.

Deputy commissioner Himanshu Jain on Saturday ordered the creation of multi-agency quick-response teams (QRTs) across all subdivisions. Bringing together elite assets from the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), state rescue teams, and critical infrastructure departments, the QRTs will safeguard vulnerable city sectors and the rural belt.

Departments have received a hard deadline to submit official safety compliance certificates before the monsoon lands. “The public must not suffer under any circumstances,” Jain warned them during a high-level command meeting.

The directive forces immediate field deployments to audit failing local infrastructure, prioritising the de-silting of the heavily polluted Buddha Dariya waterway and inspecting critical erosion points along the Satluj river. Control rooms have transitioned to 24-hour monitoring, and emergency personnel will run field drills to test evacuation and defence networks over the coming days.