Overview

• Orders dated September 15 suspended Executive Engineer Nitin Sood, SDO Arun Kumar and JE Sachin Thakur following a probe by the water resources principal secretary.
• The Home Affairs Ministry on September 16 classified the Punjab floods as a disaster of severe nature and sought a comprehensive damage report within three months.
• Two of 54 gates at the Madhopur barrage failed during late-August releases from Ranjit Sagar Dam exceeding two lakh cusecs, worsening downstream floods and trapping officials, with one later found dead.
• Punjab issued a notice to Level9 Biz Pvt Ltd over a certification that cited far higher safe discharge, while the firm responded that assessing the barrage’s structural health was not in its scope.
• Political fallout intensified as Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar filed a police complaint over alleged online misinformation and accused the state government of mismanaging the Ravi system.