After royalpatiala.in News, former Punjab bureaucrat lashes out at water resources department for floods
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ August 30,2025
After a news flash by www.royalpatiala.in on Wednesday, former Punjab bureaucrat who retired from the rank of Special Chief Secretary has lashed out at water resources department, Punjab for causing floods, due to which more than 830 villages (estimated) in the Doaba, Majha and Mand areas of the state have been inundated.
“The rain may be an act of God, but the flood was also an act of man — of bureaucracy, of misplaced priorities, and of years of delayed repairs and deferrals” said former IAS KBS Sidhu, and interestingly himself remained Principal Secretary of the state Irrigation department role of which he is critically analysing now, in an article “Punjab’s Floods of 2025 — Rivers in Rage, People in Resilience, and a Department in Denial” on his social media platform.
Sidhu’s reaction came after the News portal www.royalpatiala.in highlighted the issue of floods in Punjab in these columns under the headline “Punjab floods – a natural disaster or man-made?” on Wednesday (August 27, 2025).
Interestingly, he didn’t utter a word on Bhakra Beas Management Board’s (BBMB) role, working in this year floods. But praises the state bureaucracy for working hard during this hour of crises. No doubt it’s a part of bureaucrat’s job to remain in field when any crises occurs but he repeatedly praises the work being done by DCs, SSPs in managing the relief work.
Lashing out over departments working, Sidhu said “The Irrigation and Water Resources Department must be held accountable. This was not just a natural disaster; it was a failure of vigilance, preparation, and duty. When the waters recede, Punjab must ask itself a hard question: can it afford an Irrigation Department that cannot open gates on time, cannot maintain barrages, cannot protect embankments, and cannot clear drains?
Pertinently all decisions in the irrigation and water resources department are taken at the level of Principal Secretary irrigation and water resources department Krishan Kumar a 1997 batch IAS officer. BBMB has also announced that the opening of floodgates was agreed upon by Krishan Kumar.
He added, “Every flood season has its flashpoint, and in 2025 it was the Madhopur Barrage on the Ravi. For decades, Madhopur has been Punjab’s northern sentinel, controlling flows from Ranjit Sagar and Shahpur Kandi. But this year, instead of being the state’s shield, it became its Achilles’ heel. When floodwaters surged down the Ravi, reports emerged that gates at Madhopur were not opened in time. Water backed up, inundating villages upstream and destroying thousands of acres of crop. In an extraordinary twist, parts of the barrage itself were damaged. For years, engineers knew that Madhopur’s ropes, counterweights, and regulators were worn out. Maintenance files circulated, tenders were floated, but repairs were pushed into the bureaucratic future. When it mattered, the system faltered”.
The Sutlej carried its own fury, swollen by Bhakra’s releases. At Harike, the great confluence where the Sutlej meets the Beas, waters surged and shifted dangerously, threatening to spill downstream into Ferozepur and Fazilka.
The floods of 2025 have exposed two faces of Punjab’s governance. On one side stand the political leadership and district administrations: visible, responsive, empathetic, and brave. The Chief Minister released funds without delay, ministers toured flooded areas, and Deputy Commissioners and Police Chiefs waded into the water themselves to rescue and reassure. This is governance at its best.
On the other side stand the Irrigation and Water Resources Department, supported by a Finance Department that chronically starves it of resources until the last moment. From the Secretariat to the field engineers, the Department has shown complacency bordering on negligence. Reports are written, but repairs are delayed.
Gates are rusting, but tenders are postponed. Embankments are patched, but not rebuilt. In the hour of crisis, it is the villagers, the police, and the Deputy Commissioners who save Punjab—not the engineers whose duty it is to prevent the flood in the first place.
He appreciated the work done by local communities, setting up kitchens in gurdwaras and schools became shelters.
He concluded his write up with “It is time the Irrigation and Water Resources Department, from its senior secretariat mandarins to its engineering cadre, learned the same lesson—or made way for those who can. The floods of 2025 must be remembered not just as a natural calamity, but as the year when Punjab finally demanded accountability from the very Department that holds its rivers in trust. If that change happens, the sacrifice and suffering of this monsoon will not have been in vain.”
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