JOIN USRajasthan witnessed another spell of overnight heavy rains on Monday, throwing normal life out of gear in many districts including capital Jaipur.
Relief operations had been hampered by the rain, frustrating the administration’s effort to restore normalcy. Indeed, forecast of heavy rains in some districts has put the state government on their toes.
According to the Met office, Kota, Ajmer and Udaipur divisions may get moderate to heavy rain in the next 24 hours.
State government officials said about 18 districts have been hit by the recent rains. While the official death toll is 35, unofficial accounts put the figures to be 50.
Chief Secretary C K Mathew said people living in the low lying areas were shifted to safer places in view of the warning of further rains by the Met department. Several low lying areas have been reportedly inundated in Jaipur, where relief efforts have been going on since last Wednesday’s deluge.
Fresh downpours have prompted authorities to reassess the damages and police stations have been once again put on alert to monitor water logging. Jaipur district Collector Naveen Mahajan said: “We had completed about 80 per cent of the assessment of damages due to rain but after the fresh spell of rains, we have directed the official to conduct further assessment.”
“The district administration had sounded an alert to the police stations in the city, all the policemen are on duty to mobilize resources to handle the situation,” an administrative official said.
Notably, police stations have been made nodal centres for carrying out the relief work and all the machinery, vehicles etc. are being mobilized from the police stations.
The disaster management authority which met here on Monday under the chairmanship of the chief minister decided to order an action plan to control water-borne diseases following the rain and assess the damages to the standing crops.