Rain fury in Abohar, many localities flooded

Our Correspondent
Abohar, July 13

High-velocity winds and heavy rain in Abohar sub-division on Saturday and Sunday led to breaches in four sub-canals, while roofs of some houses collapsed in which eight persons got injured. Also, electricity supply to some areas could not be fully restored even till Monday and water that had accumulated was yet to be drained out.

In the Sadar Bazaar, about two dozen electricity meters caught fire due to short circuit in a box. People in the vicinity reported the incident to the Fire Brigade, which immediately controlled the fire. However, electricity supply was yet to be restored. In Nai Abadi and other localities, power supply was restored after nine hours.

Roofs of some houses collapsed in different areas. Vinod, a rickshaw puller residing in Sant Nagari, Aman Middha, a resident of Jammu Basti and his twin sons Sourav and Gaurav, a woman resident of Anand Nagari, Vijay Kumar and Pawan Kumar, along with their mother, residents of Arya Nagar, were among those hurt as roofs of their houses collapsed.

Due to the storm and rain, dozens of trees fell in rural area and breaches occurred in Ramsara minor (sub-canal) near Bhagu village, Lambi minor near Bishanpura, Sukhchain minor in Dutaranwali village and Daulatpura minor near Usmankhera, which led to waterlogging in fields, submerging cotton and other crops. Farmers blamed the Irrigation Department for not cleaning the sub-canals early on, despite instructions issued by the state government in this regard.

Meanwhile, Executive Engineer Upkaran Pal said about 40-feet breach was reported in Ramsara Minor while there had been minor breaches in some other canals and work to plug these was started after the supply from the headworks reduced.