Flood fury: Punjab in deep waters, army steps in for rescue ops
15 NDRF and 2 SDRF teams along with 12 army columns have been deployed in Punjab to carry out rescue operations in the worst affected districts due to heavy rains. Schools have been ordered to be closed till July 13, and land near rivers and canals have been inundated. Power and water supply have been affected, and authorities are working to bring affected people to safety.
With SAS Nagar, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar Rural and Patiala emerging as the worst affected districts due to incessant rains, 15 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and two teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been roped in to carry out rescue operations. Additionally, 12 columns of the army have also been called in to help the civil administration in the districts, including Rupnagar, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, SBS Nagar, SAS Nagar and Pathankot.
The Punjab government has ordered the closure of schools till July 13.
Tracts of land near the Sutlej and Ghaggar rivers were inundated while distributaries and major canals were breached in some places in Punjab damaging crops. As water gushed into houses in parts of the two states, authorities raced to bring affected people to safety. Breakdown in power and water supply in some of the worst-affected areas of Punjab escalated people’s problems. Patiala, Rupnagar and Fatehgarh Sahib are some of the worst-hit districts in the two states.
According to DGP Gaurav Yadav, 15 NDRF teams and two units of SDRF have been deployed to scale up rescue and evacuation operations in flood-ravaged districts in the state.
Yadav and special DGP law and order Arpit Shukla have been supervising the situation in the state, while, CPs/SSPs have been asked to remain in the field and personally monitor the situation in their concerned districts at regular intervals.
“Our teams along with NDRF, SDRF and army have been working round-the-clock in extremely challenging conditions to safeguard the life and property of people,” he said.
Special DGP Arpit Shukla said the state control room has been actively working 24x7 for flood mitigation and hourly reports are being taken from districts to know the real-time situation in their concerned districts.
“Anyone requiring any kind of help can call 112 helpline number,” he said while urging people of the state not to panic and cooperate with the administration and police.
He also appealed to people residing in low-lying or flood-prone areas that they should move to safer places or relief centres set up by district administrations for their safety.
Meanwhile, the special DGP said Punjab Police have made extensive arrangements, including sandbags, tents, lights, langars and food packets, medicines and ambulances, rescue boats, recovery vans/JCBs, life jackets, communication and public address systems, to deal with any kind of exigency arising out of floods.
In Punjab’s SBS Nagar, a teenage boy and girl drowned on Monday while in the Rupnagar area of the state, a person was swept away by torrents of water a day earlier.
DC Nawashahr NPS Randhawa confirmed the incident. He said the youth went to take bath in the accumulated water but swept way due to strong currents. “Their bodies are yet to be recovered,” he said.
The meteorological department has predicted light to moderate rain on Tuesday in Punjab. On Monday evening, 1.81 lakh cusecs of water was released from Ropar headworks.
In Patiala, floodwaters entered the premises of the Rajpura Thermal Power Plant on Monday, forcing the shutdown of one of its 700 MW units, officials said.
As the Sutlej river swelled, Ludhiana deputy commissioner Surabhi Malik ordered a temporary closure of dyeing and printing clusters in the city.
At Doraha in Ludhiana, two breaches in a canal were successfully plugged on Monday morning with the efforts of the district administration, the Army and the police. Heavy rains and floods in the Rupnagar area of Punjab affected traffic on the Chandigarh-Rupnagar highway.
With inputs from Agencies
