Floodwaters receding at many places in Punjab, Haryana; relief work underway

Floodwaters have started receding in several places of Punjab and Haryana, battered by heavy downpour earlier this week, and relief work is underway in affected areas in both states, officials said on Saturday.

With the threat of water and vector-borne diseases looming large in flood-affected areas, health department officials have been directed to take appropriate steps to prevent any such outbreak, they said.

The officials also said that medical camps have been set up in flood-hit areas and medicines are being distributed to people.

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At least 39 people have died in rain-related incidents in Punjab and Haryana.

According to official data, 19 people have died in rain-related incidents in Punjab while the death toll in Haryana stands at 20.

Over 22,000 people have been moved to safety from waterlogged localities in various flood-hit districts of Punjab. In neighbouring Haryana, 4,495 people have been evacuated.

Fourteen districts – Patiala, Moga, Ludhiana, Mohali, Jalandhar, Sangrur, Pathankot, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar and SBS Nagar – have been affected in Punjab.

In Haryana, the number of districts affected in the recent heavy downpour stands at 13 – Ambala, Fatehabad, Faridabad, Panchkula, Jhajjar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat, Sonipat, Palwal, Sirsa and Yamunanagar.

District authorities, along with personnel from the Army, Border Security Force and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), were involved in the relief operations. They also distributed dry rations, medicines, drinking water and cattle fodder.

The water level in the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana's Yamunanagar was at 54,012 cusecs at 11 am. The flow rate was significantly lower than Tuesday morning's 3.21 lakh cusecs, the officials added.

However, the overflowing Ghaggar river continues to wreak havoc in Khanauri and Moonak blocks in Sangrur district, inundating vast tracts in these areas.

In Patiala district, Shutrana, Samana and Sanour were the worst-affected areas.

Sub-divisional Magistrate, Patran (Patiala), Mandeep Kumar on Saturday said floodwater has started receding from some flood-affected areas.

Meanwhile, authorities in Patiala have started receiving calls for the removal of carcasses of animals in flood-hit areas, the officials said, adding that directions were being issued for their disposal.

In Mansa district, a 30-foot-wide breach has reported along the Ghaggar river in Sidhani village on Saturday which threatens to flood many villages, even as the work to plug a 350-foot-wide breach in the embankment along the Sutlej river in Mandala Chhanna area of Jalandhar's Lohian block was still going on.

During his Jalandhar visit on Friday to inspect the work of plugging the breach at Mandala Chhanna, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked the deputy commissioner to clear the silt and sand from the riverbed under the Gidderpindi railway bridge.

Mann has said his government would compensate every single penny for losses suffered in the floods that have ravaged the state.

A special 'girdawari (survey to assess losses)' will be conducted to assess the loss of crops, homes and others due to the heavy rainfall in the state, he said.

The chief minister has also said his government would provide free saplings of high-yielding paddy varieties.

Haryana Congress leaders Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala on Friday visited flood-hit areas in Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra district respectively.