Amritsar flood crisis: 40 villages submerged in Ramdass-Ajnala belt; Army leads rescue operation

Army units have reached the Ramdass area in Amritsar district, where around 40 villages have been submerged since Wednesday, for rescue operations along with the administration and the police.

Jawans were seen using Army vehicles and boats to rescue those left stranded in their houses. River water entered their houses hours after Dhussi Bandh near the Ravi river gave way from at least three places.

Rescue operations continued till late last evening. The water level has increased a lot since Wednesday. Yesterday, over 20 villages were inundated, but the number of such villages has now gone up to around 40.

The worst-affected villages include Ghonewal, Machhiwal, Mangu Naru, Shahzada, Jattan, Kot Gurbaksh, Pashian, Nissoke, Singhoke, Mehmad, Mandrawala, Ghaggar, Dharmabad, Ramdass, Shampura, Kotli Shah Habib, Nangal Sohal, Rurewal, Khatra, Pandori, Thangai, Malikpura, Langarpur, Dujowal, Bedi Channa, Kot Razada, Sufian, Samrai, Bhadal, Chharpur, Galib, Darya Mansoor, Bal Labhe Darya, Nangal anb, Kamirpura, Bhaini Gill, Chak Wala, Jagdev Khurd, Sahowal, Dhai Singhpura and Bajwa village.

Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney, ADC Rohit Gupta and SSP Maninder Singh reached the area along with the Army units around 4 am to supervise the rescue operations.

Policemen made announcements from speakers, urging people to move to safer places as more and more water has been entering villages at a high speed.

"As the water level level has increased and more villages are submerged, it was impossible to drive in government vehicles and therefore tractor trailers and Army vehicles are being used to rescue people,” said the Deputy Commissioner.