CHANDIGARH, August 21 — Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Ajnala, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, met Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to submit a memorandum advocating for a dam on the Ujh River to address recurring monsoon inundations in Punjab’s border areas.
Positioned downstream along the Ujh River, regions such as Ajnala, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, and Amritsar experience severe agricultural and infrastructural damage from sudden water level surges.
Strategic interests along the international border also suffer during these extreme weather events. Floodwaters routinely disrupt critical supply lines and movement routes used by the Border Security Force and the Indian Army, raising national security concerns during emergency periods.
While the state government allocates emergency funding every year to repair drainage systems and shore up embankments, local leaders maintained that these efforts provide only short-term mitigation.
In his appeal, Dhaliwal requested the Lieutenant Governor to convey the urgency of the matter to the Prime Minister and the Union Jal Shakti Minister. He urged central authorities to prepare a detailed project report and feasibility study to explore constructing the reservoir, noting that a dam would also advance regional tourism and boost hydroelectric power generation.
