Jalandhar, Sept. 16 -- Once known to be the sitting ducks every time floods hit Punjab, 25 villages in Jalandhar's Lohian block survived Sutlej's fury this year, thanks to the strategic clearing of blockages around the century-old British-era Gidderpindi railway bridge, which tends to trap debris beneath it and cause water backflow, leading to floods in nearby villages. At 2.1 lakh cusecs on September 3, the Sutlej recorded its highest water flow in four decades. This was much higher than what was seen during the 2023 floods (1.80 lakh cusecs) and 2019 (1.52 lakh cusecs). In 2019 and 2023, as well in 1988, thousands of acres of agricultural land were inundated and hundreds of people displaced when the Sutlej was in spate. Jalandhar deputy commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal said that this year, the administration managed to identify the critical points at Gidderpindi railway bridge, which is the root cause of floods in the area. "When the water flow was at its peak, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams worked round-the-clock for four days to remove water hyacinth, dead animals and other waste material flowing in the river to ensure clear passage to the water beneath the railway bridge constructed in 1912," Aggarwal said. He added that learning lessons from the past floods, the administration, with the help of locals, also carried out timely desilting works. "We removed 1.90 crore cubic feet of soil from the upstream section of the Gidderpindi railway bridge. This improved the gradient of the river and significantly increased its carrying capacity, thus ensuring a smoother flow in that section of the river," he said. The administration is also planning to take up the issue of the flawed structure of the bridge, with the railways, so as to find a permanent solution, the DC said. The Jalandhar district has recommended a state award for bravery for the five divers who, along with the NDRF and the SDRF personnel, played a key role in preventing a recurring flood disaster in villages near the Gidderpindi railway bridge. The divers faced the gushing floodwaters for four continuous days to ensure no hindrance in Sutlej flow. On Monday, even as Sutlej's water level dropped to 24,000 cusecs, the work of reinforcement of Dhussi bundh in Mandala Chhana village continued as the water pressure continued to erode the sand beneath the embankment....