Girdawari to begin as soon as weather clears up: Amritsar DC Sakshi Sawhney

As the weather clears after week-long incessant rainfall, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney visited the Ghonewal area in Ramdass where a breach occurred in the dhussi bundh, causing large-scale damage to nearby villages. She said the relief operation in the flood-affected area will continue in the coming days.

Interacting with affected families at Ghonewal village, Sawhney said as soon as the floodwaters recede and the weather clears up, a girdawari will begin to assess the extent of damage to houses. She said the weather department has forecast a clear weather in the coming days.

“If the weather remains clear, our patwaris will reach each affected house and assess the damage done and after receiving the report, the work of distributing the compensation amount will be started as soon as possible by sending it to the government for approval,” she said, adding that, “Our effort is to first start girdawari from the most affected area, which is Ghonewal, where a breach took place the dhussi bundh broke and it also caused the most damage here.”

At present, administration teams, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Red Cross, Amritsar, various organisations, Kar Sewa stalwarts, youth service societies and other volunteers have reached from all over Punjab and are serving needy persons.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Rohit Gupta said 190 villages of Amritsar district have been affected by floods and about 1.35 lakh people living in them have been directly affected by floods. He said five lives have been lost due to floods in Amritsar district and 91 houses damaged.

Talking about livestock, the Additional Deputy Commissioner said they had information of about 12 animals perished and many missing. “Our teams are taking part in rescue operations and have rescued 2,734 people, who were completely surrounded by water and taken them to safer places. At present, flood relief centres are running at 16 places for the convenience of people, where arrangements have been made for the accommodation of needy people and animal shelter. Apart from this, ration is being distributed to needy people and fodder and feed for animals is being arranged from these places,” he informed.

He said medical teams remain present for 24 hours at these camps and treat needy persons. He appealed to the people that many of snake bites in floodwaters have been reported, which should not be taken lightly and whenever someone gets bitten by a snake, he should immediately rush to one of these nearby flood relief centres, where doctors have snake bite vaccine.