Bodies travel miles in Sirhind canal as hydel project staff pass the buck

Bodies travel miles in Sirhind canal as hydel project staff pass the buck
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda/Barnala, August 9
Hardly a day passes when the volunteers of NGOs in Bathinda do not recover dead bodies floating in the canals and distributaries. TNS tried to ascertain the source from where the dead bodies, in such great numbers, were coming from.
During the investigation, it was observed that the Bathinda branch of the Sirhind canal is the main source of such bodies. This branch of the canal emerges from the Doraha head. Meanwhile, it was observed that most people whose bodies were found did not belong to Bathinda district. Most of the time, the bodies had travelled miles before reaching Bathinda.
It is astonishing that if a man jumps or is thrown into this canal near Doraha, the body can travel up to Rai-ke village in Muktsar district, covering the total length of the canal, which is about 86 miles, passing all checks on the way.
The canal has a total of three micro hydel projects on the way and a number of gates (channels) to control the flow of water. But the bodies cross all such points, obviously due to the passing of the buck by the staff deputed there.
The micro hydel projects are located at Mile 26 at Lohgarh, Mile 37 at Chak village and Mile 62 at Sadhana village. Each hydel project has a proper iron-net fixed at inlet points, from where the water passes on to the turbines.
The iron-net is so thickly woven that no foreign particle (beyond a prescribed size limit) can pass through, otherwise, it would cause damage to the turbines. However, sources in the canal department stated that the staff deputed at hydel projects, despite witnessing the body in their area, open the gate so that it crosses their territory.
A senior official now retired of the canal department said, “Such heads may prove much helpful in identifying the body as it would reduce the area of investigation. If it is taken seriously, police would have to check only those villages falling within the distance of one micro hydel project. Moreover, the accountability of staff deputed there should be fixed to check how the body crossed the thickly woven iron nets.”
During the survey, this correspondent witnessed a semi-nude body floating at Dadda Hoor bridge of the Bathinda branch, at Barnala-Raikot road. Some stray dogs were waiting for it to come along the bank. A number of onlookers were watching the body trapped in the water but nobody was willing to pull it out.
When asked, Bikkar Singh, a tea vendor, who has his stall along the bridge, said, “I know that this decomposed body will reach till Bathinda where social workers will pull it out. This body can be pulled out at many points along the way as there are even some hydel projects also along the way. There, the bodies get trapped but the staff allow them to flow with the water further.”
Showing some news clippings, he expressed his anguish saying, “I pulled out a number of bodies at this point and my pictures were published in newspapers. But now I have stopped making effort as I observed that neither the police nor the staff of the canal department bothers to pull these bodies out. Moreover, despite my daring, no official ever appreciated my efforts.” 

Headless body of youth recovered from distributary

Rampura Phul, August 9
A headless body of a youth kept in an airbag was recovered from a canal distributary near Jaura bridge here today afternoon.
According to sources, some children who were swimming in the distributary saw a blue coloured bag in the water. Getting suspicious, they quickly informed volunteers of the Malwa Sahara Club.
Volunteers of the NGO pulled out the bag and found a semi-nude body in it. They informed the police and in their presence the bag was opened. The body was of a headless male in the age group of 30-35 years. It appeared that the before keeping the body in bag, it was tied tightly with a tape.
Considering it a clear case of murder, Rampura police registered a case against unidentified persons under section 302 of the IPC. DSP Rampura Phul, Rupinder Bhardwaj said, “Postmortem of the body could not be conducted today. Further, we will keep the body in the mortuary for one day with the hope to get it identified before its cremation.” — TNS