‘Kar sewa’ bridges help people

[GlobalSikhNews]

Burj (Anandpur Sahib), August 21: The Punjab Government is keeping a vigil on the bundh created on the Sutlej which used to flood up to 10 villages every year, but it seems it is kar sewa baba - Sant Labh Singh of Kila Anandgarh Sahib, who is providing succour to villages in this area by constructing bridges across the Sutlej to their hearths and homes.

While the bundh on the Sutlej here is safe as of now and is even still being strengthened after Rs 2 crore being spent on it, a concrete bridge is coming up on the Sutlej bed to link this village with the rest of the world.

Burj, Chandpur Bela, Gobindpur Bela, Hariwal, Ballawal, Mehndikalan and a few other villages are situated in between the dominant left creek of the Sutlej and the minor right creek of the river.

Villagers, who live on a virtual island, feel the pinch most during the monsoon when the river hems them in.

Burj sarpanch Surinder Singh says the Drainage Department has constructed a bundh on one side of the river and saved nearly 10 villages from flooding, but the water is at present getting deflected and wreaking havoc in their villages. Tara Singh, another villager, says water had entered their school building and that if the present trend continued, it could damage their village also.

The only succour for the villages is the bridge being constructed to link their village with Anandpur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi on both sides of the river. This is only one of the bridges being constructed by kar sewa baba - Labh Singh. He had earlier constructed a bridge for the people of Chandpur Bela who used to come in droves to participate in his community programmes. “We appealed to him and he has started work on a Rs 20-crore bridge project for us”, says Tara Singh.

Anandpur Sahib Subdivisional Magistrate Arvind Pal Singh Sandhu, who was at the bundh site today, however, claimed the government was alive to the problems of the villages and that a Rs 55-crore bridge had been constructed at Serai Pattan to connect Kiratpur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi.

Meanwhile, Drainage Executive Engineer Kamaljit Singh said the bundh opposite to Burj village was being strengthened with the Sutlej making new erosions.

He said the river was in spate already and might not be able to take in more water in case the Bhakra Dam authorities decided to increase the discharges from the floodgates. He, however, said the seasonal rivulets, particularly the Swan that joined the Sutlej near here, were dry at present.