Chandigarh, July 20 (PTI) Punjab Water Resources Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Thursday asked officials to speed up work on plugging breaches in rivers at different places in the state.

Speaking at a meeting with Department of Water Resources officials to review the flood situation in different districts, the minister also said canals and drains in the state have suffered damages to the tune of Rs 90 crore.

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Several districts in Punjab were recently battered by heavy rains that left normal life paralysed, and flooded residential areas and vast tracts of agricultural land.

During the meeting, instructions were issued to officials to undertake work to plug breaches in rivers at different places on a war footing, an official release said.

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Many breaches have been plugged and at some places, work will start after the water recedes, the release quoted Hayer as saying.

Heavy rains lashed many parts of Punjab on July 9 and 10. The state received 83.4 mm of rainfall in just two days as against July's average of 161.4 mm, he said.

Rains in Himachal Pradesh also led to a rise in water levels in rivers in Punjab, he added.

The department is monitoring the water levels in all dams, rivers and canals on an hourly basis, Hayer said.

According to Thursday morning's report, the water level in the Bhakra dam was 1,648.12 feet as against the capacity of 1,680 feet.

The water level in the Pong dam stood at 1,374 feet as against the capacity of 1,390 feet and that in the Ranjit Sagar dam was 1,721.4 feet as against the capacity of 1,731.99 feet.

The water level in these three dams has risen in the last 11 days due to excessive rain and cloudbursts in the hilly areas, Hayer said.

From July 9 to 20, the water level in the Bhakra dam increased by 41.46 feet. The water levels in the Pong Dam have increased by 35.13 feet and in the Ranjit Sagar Dam by 33.9 feet.

Hayer also said during this season, the Bhakra dam's floodgates have not been opened even once.

A maximum of 35,000 cusecs of water was released through turbines, which is essential for power generation, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)