Rainwater floods polytechnic campus, classes go online

Continuous rain and discharge from the saline Ghaggar drain have severely impacted life in Nathusari Chopta in Sirsa district, flooding the campus of Chaudhary Devi Lal Government Polytechnic Institute and surrounding areas.

For the past 10 days, about 22 acres of the campus, including training facilities and hostel buildings, are under 2-3 ft water. Though laboratories and offices of the institute are safe for now, classes for around 1,000 trainees have been suspended and shifted to online mode. Principal Vivek Vohra and staff have been making efforts to drain out water, but as the campus situated at a level lower than the nearby fields, the water level keeps on rising.

The nearby Sirsa-Bhadra road has also been flooded. Traffic movement between Nathusari Chopta and Darba Kalan has been diverted. Commuters have to travel 15 km extra via Rupana Khurd and Ludesar.

The Hisar-Ghaggar drain, which flows near the institute, is overflowing, affecting around 1,000 hectares of land. Fields, streets, schools and government buildings in low-lying villages are waterlogged. Schools in villages like Nahrani and Shakkar Mandori are inundated with rainwater. In over 20 nearby villages, rising water levels have destroyed around 4,000 acres of crops, including cotton, peanuts, rice and moong, causing severe distress to farmers and livestock owners.

Villagers continue to monitor the saline drain, but water seepage at several spots is a cause of concern. A fresh spell of rain on Saturday afternoon worsened the situation further.