Flooded Ropar villages left high and dry

Tribune News Service

Ropar, August 20 

Two days after floods played havoc across the district, the water has receded in a majority of areas while over a dozen villages are still inundated. This, however, has brought new challenges for people as well as the district administration. 

The dead cattle and muck lying all over the villages have posed a threat of outbreak of any epidemic. In many villages, people are left without drinking water as the pipelines have been damaged. Moreover, most of them have even lost their belongings.

As the villages in the district were flooded late Sunday night, people didn’t get a chance to shift their belongings. The cattle are the worst hit as the fodder stored with owners has been destroyed and there’s an acute shortage of the stock in the market.

The villages where the water was still accumulated are Harsa Bela, Bela Dhiani, Burj, Hariwal, Shahpur Bela, Gajpur, Ballowal and Amarpur Bela. 

Langars being organised

Gurdwaras and various social organisations have come to the rescue of the affected villagers. The volunteers of Kila Anandgarh, the dera of Sant Baba Labh Singh (Pullan Wala Baba), have been organising langars in several villages since Monday. Bhai Amrik Singh of Sanoli Majara along with his followers also served langar in many villages of Anandpur Sahib and brought two trolleys and a truck loaded with fodder to distribute among the needy cattle owners.

Ropar DC Sumeet Jarangal said medical teams had been deputed in all affected villages and soon, all such areas would be fumigated to avoid the outbreak of any disease. “Also, the work on restoring the drinking water supply is in full swing and the district administration has already got Rs 35 lakh from the state government to provided immediate relief to the people affected by floods.”

Rs 4-lakh ex gratia for toddler’s kin

The district administration has announced a relief of Rs 4 lakh for the parents of a three-year-old girl, Sundari, who got drowned in flood water at Nurpur Bedi.

28 schools shut for two days

The district administration has announced a two-day holiday (Wednesday and Thursday) in 28 schools of Ropar, where the water was yet to recede.