India, Sept. 20 -- The Punjab government on Saturday suspended an executive engineer (XEN), a sub divisional officer (SDO) and a junior engineer (JE) of the Madhopur sub division irrigation department in Pathankot district after two of the 54 gates of the Madhopur barrage, located downstream of the Ranjit Sagar Dam on the Ravi river, gave way during the heavy rain on August 28.

The barrage, first built in the 19th century and rebuilt in 1959 near Pathankot, regulates the Ravi's flow. With the Ranjit Sagar Dam filled to the brim, water began outflowing at up to 2.21 lakh cusecs. The floodgates of the barrage were opened when two collapsed under pressure, aggravating floods in the areas downstream. The flooding caused widespread damage to ...