As the crow flies, the channels of river Sutlej is about 5km from the Chowk Clock Tower. But after the partition of the country, most of the members of the younger generation do not realize the pleasures of living on a river bank. Even on the Vaisakhi day, the April 13th, the residents don’t have the enthusiasm of going to the river bank for ishnan. The situation was not the same before partition of the sub – continent. People from Fazilka and other surrounding villages would rush to Suleimanki Headworks which was only 15km from the Fzilka and was connected by a metalled road. The residents would go on tongas to have a day off ther.
After the partition of the country, the residents of Fazilka have lost the feel of living on a river bank, though the largest river of the Punjab(1630km long) passes very near to Fazilka. Old timers even tell that there was time when the river had its stream along the present Unn bazar, and the boats were tied at the present day crossing of Abohar Road and Bathinda Road. The main reason for this disinterest has been the partition of the sub continent in August 1947 based on the pen of Mr. Red Cliff, who drew the partition line while sitting quite away from the people whose fate he was sealing. Before the partition, most of the people of Fazilka used to visit Suleimanki Headworks for the Vaisakhi ishnan on April 13 every year. The Redeliffe line runs for about 105km along the riverine channel of the Sutlej from Ganda Singh Wala headworks to Fazilka and then deviates along the fort Abbas canal upto Anup Garh. The land marks of the great river, in the form of horse- shoe lake(Badha lake) in the north of Fazilka town, are still there. But this mini lake is gasping for water as the river does not recharge it. In the present times there may be many young children who may not know even that a great river flows so near the town of Fazilka. The pleasure of having a swim in the river has been lost forever due to hazards of the nearness to border which is the parting line between Pakistan and India.
May be we would like to know more about our river.
The Greek called the Sutlej Zaradros and the vedic name is Sutudri or Satadru. The river rises in the Himalayas from Lake Mansrover(Lanka ts’ O lake) in the plateau of southwestern Tibet at a level of 4600m. it is a turbulent stream, till it joins the Gobind Sagar at Bhakra dam where hydro power generation and irrigation cum flood control is affected. Downstream at Ropar, one and a half century old headworks provides water to the famous Sirhind Canal. After Ropar the river meanders in the plains of the Punjab to meet the river Beas at Haroke (earlier a Pattan of significance since ancient times), it further shares its waters with Rajsthan Canal and Sirhind feeder.
The river now reaches the Redcliffe line at Ganda Singh Wala Headworks where Bikaneri Canal and Grey Canal on the left bank of the river. The Samadhi of Sardar Bhagat Singh Shaheed is on the right bank. Every year an anniversary is held there. It attracts large crowds of people who participate.
The river flows along the border, till it reaches the precincts of Fazilka at Kanwanwala Pattan, on the old route to Multan. Here it enter the territory of Pakisthan where their authorities control the Suleimanki Headworks. Suleimanki at a distance of 15 km by road was accessible from Channanwala by train and older generation still relish the nostalgic memories of picnics and shikar outings in the Sarkanda (elephant grass) ridden water patches around Suleimanki. It was the hub of activities of Fazilka and was a part of Fazilka like its Clock Tower. An old timer Mr. Rachhpal Singh whom I located in Saharanpur narrated several trips and anecdotes about how they used to came to Fazilka from Suleimanki via Channanwala, (now the last rail head on this side of the border in Railway maps) That was way back in 1924.
From Suleimanki the Sutlej traverses along the periphery of the great Thar Desert of India subcontinent with another headworks at Islam, and meets Chanab at Uch and after a further journey of about 80 km to Mithankot it meets the great Indus after whom the subcontinent is named. The Indus carries its waters to Hyderabad and then into the Arabian Sea. The Tibetan waters mix with the Arabian spirits. If the subcontinent was to be partitioned at the behest of the democratic leaders, it would have been better if the Redcliffe line had been laid along the riverine channels of the great Sutlej.
After the built-up of Bhakra dam, the Sutlej is a tamed river. The floods do come even now though the frequency is reduced. It was in 1908 that Fazilka was submerged, (the statistical analysis outlines that river sutlej has Frequency of getting flooded after about forty years which holds true as the river was in spate in 1948and 1988) but later on even though the river was in spate in could not do much damage as the Headworks at Suleimanki along with its training bunds contained the flood water. It was in 1955 the author watched the flooded Sutlej river from Mauzam
Bund. There was a breech in the bund at Jhangar and Asifwala region on the southern side of the town was flooded. In 1988 the town was likely to be inundated but for the timely help from the defense personnel saved the town. They quickly built a coffer dam for stopping the flow of water to the town. The people generously paid for the sandbags for building up the coffer dam.
Even in older times the discharge through the river Sutlej was not so much as to sustain navigation. The East India Company planned to reach Karachi port by steamer system in Sutlej, even in 1827 for transporting raw material to British Isles. But their request for this type of venture was cautiously refused by Sarkar-e-Khalsa ji . The river provides irrigation to about 2,000,000 ha in both the west and east Punjab and has brought prosperity to people in far off areas of Rajsthan as well as in Bahawalpur and Sind in Pakisthan
DATA ABOUT SUTLEJ
Of the river of the Punjab, Who knows how much water has passed through these and how many floods have passed over at the site where Fazilka is located. The first was in 1908 following table gives information about the river sutlej:
TABLE
[recorded at Ropar]
Precipitation over the hill catchment = 292 mm in Summer
= 188 mm in winter and
= 480 mm/annum
Drainage area in hills = 61,000 m2
Lentgh of the river = 1630km
Maximum Discharge = 13900m3/s
Minimum discharge = 78m3/s
Source: Fazilka - The Town of the Learned by Dr. Bhupinder Singh
