Ludhiana, Sept. 5 -- Residents of Sasrali village are on edge as the Sutlej river continues to swell, with its water level reaching dangerously close to the dhusi bundh, a key embankment protecting several nearby villages in Ludhiana district. With heavy inflows from upstream and more rain forecast, locals have urged the district administration and the irrigation department to deploy additional staff and machinery at vulnerable spots.

District administration officials, along with the army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), have been deployed to strengthen the embankment of the river so as to avert any breach in the embankment. Large quantities of stone boulders, sand, soil and iron mesh, as well as JCBs and poclains, have b...