23,000 hectares submerged, 50 houses collapse in Ajnala

Around 50 houses have collapsed and standing crops on nearly 23,000 hectares completely destroyed in Amritsar’s Ajnala since August 27, when the swollen Ravi first entered villages of the border belt.

The river marooned vast swathes of land in two dozen more villages in the Ramdass area on Sunday too. So far, 35,000 people in 93 villages have been impacted by flooding in the area. According to officials, over 2,500 people have been rescued from flood-hit areas by teams of the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the state police.

All-terrain vehicles and boats are being used to fetch people from places left disconnected as the riverwater has entered residential areas situated over 10 km from the Ravi bank. A youth was saved from drowning by the NDRF on Sunday. Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sahney said six NDRF and 17 Army teams have been deployed for the rescue and relief efforts.

She said the relief teams had delivered 35,000 cooked food and 8,500 ration packets among those affected. Besides, 5,000 packets of dry milk have also been delivered. She said 50 tonnes of animal feed was also distributed. According to the India Meteorological Department, 611mm of rainfall has been recorded in the past five days.

Relief camps has been set up at 16 places, where boarding, lodging and medical arrangements have been made for people.

Ministers Harbhajan Singh ETO and Aman Arora and Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal visited flood-ravaged areas, including the worst-hit Ghonewal village, where the embankment had collapsed a day before. Arora said the state government was fully capable to compensate people for their losses but urged the Centre to declare the floods in Punjab a natural calamity. Chief Secretary KAP Sinha said affected people will be compensated for the losses. Accompanied by a battery of officials he also reviewed the arrangements made at the relief centre in Chamyari.