Punjab: Union Minister Jitendra Singh inspects floodgates on river Ravi at Madhopur barrage

Chandigarh, Sep 26 (PTI) Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday inspected floodgates on the Ravi river and proposed a free and fair inquiry to fix accountability at the highest level for alleged floodgate mismanagement.

The minister of state (independent charge) for science and technology; earth sciences and minister of state for PMO, visited the Madhopur barrage on the Ravi river in Punjab, where he pointed out "lapses" in the handling of floodgates and called for fixing responsibility at the highest level.

Speaking after his inspection, Singh said the flooding in parts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts could have been averted had the gates been operated in time.

He noted that according to public accounts, floodgates are required to be opened once the water level reaches 523 metres, but on this occasion, the gates were allegedly opened only after the level had crossed 527 metres. By then, he said, a large volume of water had already accumulated, causing widespread inundation.

Singh further observed that the gates were reportedly operated manually instead of by modern automated systems, which, according to him, reflected poor preparedness.

He criticised the Punjab government for suspending "only three junior officials" and demanded that "accountability be fixed on those who had the authority to ensure timely decisions".

The state government had recently suspended three officers, including an executive engineer, in the Madhopur barrage incident in which two floodgates of the headworks in the Pathankot district were damaged last month.

"It is not enough to suspend low-level employees. Responsibility has to be fixed at the top, among those entrusted with both authority and duty," he remarked.

The collapse of the floodgates of the barrage, following torrential rains in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab, had resulted in the flooding of several areas downstream.

While the Punjab government has constituted a five-member expert committee to investigate the structural, mechanical, and operational causes of the incident, Singh insisted that the inquiry should also look into "administrative lapses".

He underlined that given the barrage's strategic importance, such failures could not be treated lightly. PTI SUN MNK MNK