 "Heavy rains batter North; Army, NDRF step in, yamuna breaches danger mark")
Incessant rains wreaked havoc for a third consecutive day on Monday in parts of North India, particularly Himachal Pradesh, where landslides claimed four more lives, even as the Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams stepped in to intensify the relief and rescue operations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand about the situation and assured them of all help and support from the central government, official sources said Monday.
“PM Modi also spoke with chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Pushkar Singh Dhami respectively, about the situation related to rainfall in their states. He assured all help and support from the Government of India,” a source said.
As many as 39 NDRF teams were deployed in four north Indian states to tackle the situation, a senior officer said on Monday. While 14 (NDRF) teams were working in Punjab, a dozen were deployed in Himachal Pradesh, eight in Uttarakhand and five in Haryana, he said.
“The rescue operations are being undertaken as per the situateion on ground and in coordination with the state authorities,” an NDRF spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, in Punjab, the Army rescued 910 students and 50 others from a private university in the state after it was flooded.
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In Himachal Pradesh, landslides claimed four more lives in Shimla and the Shimla-Kalka highway was blocked Monday morning, police said.
At least 16 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the state in the last two days, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, adding the state has not witnessed such “widespread heavy rains” in the past 50 years.
Efforts were afoot to rescue 400 tourists and locals stranded at Chandertal and between Pagal and Teilgi nallah in Lahaul and Spiti, he added.
Three people died after a landslide struck a house in Theog subdivision of Shimla on Monday morning, police said. Several rivers in north India are also in spate. The Yamuna, in New Delhi, crossed the danger mark of 205.33 metres on Monday.
According to the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) flood-monitoring portal, the water level at the Old Railway Bridge had risen to 205.4 metres by 5 pm as Haryana released more water into the river from the Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chaired a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss the waterlogging situation and rising level of the Yamuna, and asserted that there was no threat of flood as of now.
According to an official order issued on Monday, all schools run, aided or recognised by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will remain closed on July 11.