Every year monsoon arrives in Punjab arrives with a familiar irony. We pray for rain to nourish our crops and recharge sub soil water aquifers to sustain the agricultural economy. Yet, ever more, the rainfall brings concern of destruction and uncertainty due to floods. Villages along river belts watch water levels nervously, urban settlements brace fear inundation, and governments jostle responding to flood alerts.

The challenge before Punjab is no longer the flood management; it is rather monsoon preparedness in the times of changing climate patterns, reducing river capacities that have followed decades of ecological neglect.

The state’s rivers, particularly the Sutlej and the Beas, are carrying a burden they were never had borne. Years of unchecked silt deposition, uncontrolled encroachments on floodplains and inadequate scientific river management, have extensively the capacity to safely carry monsoon water flows. As a result, even moderate releases of water today can trigger flood threat in areas that were once considered safe.

Rivers losing capacity to carry water

The story of Punjab’s floods begins upstream. The Sutlej and Beas rivers bring enormous quantities of sediment from the fragile Himalayan catchments. Traditionally, rivers had sufficient width and depth to transport this material downstream. However, decades of silt deposition have raised riverbeds and narrowed channels. Also unmindful, mining of silt and gravel over river beds have given matter to madness.

Experts have noted that riverbeds at several locations in Punjab have risen by as much as 5 to 12 feet because of sediment accumulation, hence reducing the carrying capacity of rivers and drainage channels drastically. In some stretches, the effective capacity is estimated to have shrunk to nearly one-third of what it once was.

The consequences are visible. Water that earlier remained confined within river channels now spills over embankments and inundates habitations. What should have been manageable monsoon flows are increasingly translating into flood emergencies owing to lack of scientific preparedness.

Despite repeated warnings by the experts, desilting of rivers has remained sporadic, fragmented and not under the focus. Mechanical removal of silt at isolated locations cannot substitute for a comprehensive basin-level strategy. The state needs a scientifically designed sediment-management plan based on long-term data collection, inflows studies and understanding river contours.

The issue becomes even more serious because many riverbeds and floodplains have been steadily encroached upon. Urban settlements have emerged in areas that historically served as natural flood buffers, so when rivers lose both depth and space, floods become inevitable.

Punjab’s flood vulnerability is also linked to what is happening inside the Gobind Sagar reservoir, the lifeline created by the Bhakra Dam.

Over six decades of operation, massive quantities of silt have accumulated inside the reservoir. Recent assessments indicate that nearly one-fourth of the reservoir’s original storage capacity has been lost to sedimentation. Estimates suggest that more than 2.5 billion cubic metres of storage space have effectively been consumed by silt deposits.

This is not a minor technical issue. Reservoir storage acts as a safety cushion during heavy rainfall events. As storage shrinks, the ability to absorb sudden inflows diminishes, increasing pressure on dam operations and downstream flood management.

The challenge is compounded by the fact that scientific desilting of large reservoirs remains technologically complex and financially an exorbitant affair. Successive governments have discussed the issue, committees have been formed and pilots proposed, but the scale of intervention required is yet to materialize on the ground.

The reality is that sedimentation is no longer a reservoir-management concern; rather it has become a flood-management challenge affecting millions of people living in north Indian states - Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

Uncertainty demands urgent action

This year’s monsoon arrives amid growing global concerns over climate variability and the continuing influence of large-scale weather phenomena such as El Niño. Weather systems are becoming increasingly unpredictable, producing long dry spells followed by intense bursts of rainfall. Such volatility places additional pressure on water infrastructure. The Bhakra Dam’s catchment area extends across nearly 68,000 square kilometres in the Himalayas, while the Gobind Sagar reservoir spreads over approximately 164 square kilometres. Any extreme rainfall event or a cloud burst across this vast catchment can generate enormous inflows within a short period And eventually might lead to a disaster downstream of the dam.

Reports indicate that reservoir levels this season are significantly higher than those recorded during the corresponding period last year. A healthy storage is essential for irrigation and power generation over the year, it also points towards the importance of maintaining adequate flood cushions before peak monsoon inflows arrive.Punjab cannot afford to treat floods as seasonal emergencies that demand attention only after water enters villages. Flood resilience must become a year-round governance priority.

This requires scientific desilting of rivers and reservoirs, strict protection of floodplains from encroachment, strengthening of embankments, restoration of natural drainage systems, real-time hydrological monitoring and improved coordination among states sharing river basins. Punjab has always demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity, but it cannot alon substitute for preparedness. As climate risks intensify and river systems continue to degrade, the state must shift from reactive flood relief to proactive flood prevention. The monsoon will continue to test Punjab every year. The question is whether we will respond to the disasters after they occur, or finally invest in preventing them before they arrive. / DAILY WORLD /

( The writer is member Rajya Sabha and founder-chairman Chandigarh University.)