Central team visits flood-affected areas of Kapurthala to survey damage

A four-member central team sent by the Government of India visited Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district today to survey the flood-affected areas.

The team includes RK Tiwari, CEA, Ministry of Power; Laxman Ram Buldak, Director, Agriculture; Sudeep Dutta, Under Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India; and Prakash Chand, Deputy Director, Ministry of Jal Shakti.

On reaching Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Panchal briefed the team about the flow of the Beas river and the affected Baupur Island.

The members of the central team went by boat and interacted with the affected families at Baupur and Sangra to get information about the damage caused. The team also inspected the government school in Baupur.

The DC gave detailed information to the team about the damage caused by floods in Kapurthala. He informed them that crops have been damaged in an area of about 35,000 acres. Apart from this, the infrastructure has also been damaged. He said that the flood water has caused huge losses to the people in the villages of Sultanpur Lodhi, Bholath and Kapurthala tehsils.

The DC also informed that the administration has been carrying out relief work since August 11, under which dry ration packets, medicines and other necessary items have been delivered to the people through boats.

The administration is also working on four relief centres for the accommodation of people. Similarly, more than 1,500 people were evacuated safely from the flood-affected areas by the SDRF and the Army.

After this, the central team held a meeting with the officials at the local rest house. During the meeting, the team received information about the damage from officials of various departments such as Revenue, Electricity Board, Animal Husbandry, Education Department, Agriculture, etc.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Navneet Kaur Bal, Chief Engineer Public Works Department Ramtej Singh Bains, SDM Alka Kalia and others were also present on the occasion.