The Ravi river’s fury has left a trail of destruction across Punjab’s border belt, washing away nearly 30 km of iron fencing along the Indo-Pak frontier, and even forcing the Border Security Force (BSF) to vacate dozens of its posts.
Officials said on Wednesday that around 30 kilometers of the iron border fence have been washed away, while more than 50 BSF checkposts breaches have been reported in the bundhs across Gurdaspur, Amritsar, and Pathankot districts, according to a report by The Indian Express.
Authorities admitted that drug smugglers tried to exploit the chaos by slipping through the gaps, but alert BSF jawans managed to foil their attempts.
“In Gurdaspur alone, nearly 30 to 40 of our border outposts were submerged. All men and equipment were safely evacuated, and thankfully there were no casualties. Around 30 km of fencing in Gurdaspur, Amritsar, and Ferozepur sectors has either been damaged or washed away,” The Indian Express quoted AK Vidyarthi, Deputy Inspector General of BSF Punjab Frontier, as saying.
In Shahzada village of Amritsar, one displaced family had to take shelter inside a BSF post at Kamalpur after soldiers vacated it due to rising waters. Even the famous BSF post near the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is now under water, with personnel temporarily moving to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Dera Baba Nanak. “The Ravi river has flooded both sides of the zero line. Even Pakistan Rangers have had to abandon their forward posts,” an official said.
According to the drainage department, Gurdaspur alone has seen 28 breaches in its protective bundhs. Amritsar has reported between 10 and 12 breaches, while Pathankot has suffered one of the worst incidents, a two-kilometer-long bundh completely washed away.
Some gaps are massive, stretching between 500 and 1,000 feet, including near the Kartarpur Sahib area. Repair works have already begun at critical points such as Dera Baba Nanak and Makora Pattan. But engineers warn the task won’t be quick: “Just plugging these breaches will take at least four to six weeks. Complete restoration will take much longer,” said XEN Dilpreet Singh.
Despite the damage, BSF personnel continue their patrols, now using boats to monitor vulnerable stretches. Officials revealed that one infiltrator was already caught attempting to misuse the situation. Alongside their security duties, BSF teams are also involved in relief work. In Ferozepur, 1,500 people were evacuated to safer ground, while in Abohar more than 1,000 villagers and their cattle were shifted. Medical and veterinary camps are being held daily to prevent any outbreak of disease.
With no fresh rain forecast for the next three days, drainage officials believe water levels will soon begin to drop. “Levels in the dams will ease, water will recede into the riverbed, and only the lowest areas will remain inundated. Within three days, conditions should improve significantly,” Singh said.
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