Monsoon fury: Army, NDRF carry out rescue operations in Fatehabad

Deepender Deswal

Fatehabad/Sirsa, July 17

The district administration has called in the Army to start relief and rescue operations in the flood-affected villages of Fatehabad district as the overflowing Ghaggar continues to wreak havoc in about 80 villages of the district.

According to information, four teams of the Army, including a medical wing and an engineering wing, and two teams of the NDRF have been deployed in the district. Sources said the administration had compiled a list of 83 worst-affected villages due to floods caused by the breach in the Ghaggar in Haryana and Punjab side and another 11 villages, which were affected due to the heavy rains.

Some villages, including Sharan, Birbadi, Ajit Nagar, Lamba, Ghaswa, Kasempur and Jakhal, have up to 10 feet floodwater level in the fields. Dhyan Singh, a resident of Lamba village, said the village was cut off by road from other areas. “Though the villagers, with the help of administration, strengthened the ring bundh to prevent water from entering the village, entire crops were destroyed in the floods. We are connected by boats to other areas and the administration has also sent food and ration for the villagers,” he maintained.

A district spokesperson said as the water had started receding in some areas, the Army’s Engineering wing, with the help of the state Public Works Department (PWD), would start work tomorrow to plug and strengthen the breached embankments of the Ghaggar and Rangoi nullah in the Jakhal block.

Jagjeet Singh of Nadel village said the situation seemed to be under control now. “Floodwater is on the wane and we expect that there is no threat of flooding of the residential areas. Social workers from Haryana and Punjab are supplying the food and other material to the affected villages,” he added.

Additional Chief Secretary Vinit Garg, along with the Hisar Divisional Commissioner Geeta Bharti and DC Mandeep Kaur, visited several flood-affected areas and held a meeting with the Army officers and district officials for coordinated efforts in the relief work.

In Sirsa, villagers and administration have been working overtime to strengthen embankments to prevent water from entering the residential areas. DC Parth Gupta said while dhanis located in the villages along the Ghaggar had been evacuated, the residential areas in the villages were safe.

“The Ghaggar embankments are under the administration’s observation round the clock. An embankment in Saharni village was immediately strengthened after reports of some leakage due to the overflowing of waters. The situation is under control and the river has 45,000 cusecs of water in it,” he stated.

4 deaths in 24 hrs in state

• As many as 80 more villages have got affected in Haryana due to floods in the past 24 hours, while four more persons died and two received injuries due to the calamity
• Sixty-four houses have been partially damaged since Sunday. Since June 1, 1,378 villages have been hit, while 34 lives have been lost
• A total of 560 people have been evacuated in the past 24 hours, while 226 people have been staying in four relief camps
• A total of 4,826 hectares of crop area got damaged since Sunday and 1.67 lakh hectares have got damaged since June 1
• While the NDRF has been deployed in Ambala, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Palwal and Sirsa, the Army is out in Ambala and Fatehabad

Relief camps set up

• The district administration with the help of NDRF and Army has evacuated 391 persons from the flood-affected and rain-affected villages in the district
• The administration has set up 14 relief camps for the affected persons and about 175 persons have taken shelter in these camps
• The district administration is distributing relief material, including food packets containing atta, rice, refined oil, pulses and spices, to the flood-affected residents, while cooked food is being supplied by many social and religious organisations