Relief operation launched as 293 villages inundated

LUCKNOW: The rise in water level of various rivers has flooded 293 villages in 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, said officials on Friday.

These districts are Barabanki, Ayodhya, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Bahraich, Azamgarh, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Siddharth Nagar and Balrampur.

Relief commissioner, Sanjay Goyal said the state government had launched relief and rescue operation in the flood-affected villages.

“The government has established 94 flood shelters in the districts of which 15 are active. The relief teams distributed 4,646 ration kits, 1,125 food packets, 24,106 tents and 151 medical teams have been deployed in the flood-hit areas,” he said.

The ration kit distributed among flood victims includes 17 essential items.

The district administration officers had also been directed to supply five kg fodder per cattle daily among the villagers, he said.

The administration has pressed 465 boats into service to shift people to safe spots.

Also, 636 flood posts had been set up.

“The administration has also set up 14 cattle sheds and 3,65,881 cattle have been vaccinated,” he said.

Goyal said, river Sharda was flowing above danger level in Lakhimpur Kheri, Rapti in Gorakhpur and Shravasti while Saryu was also flowing above danger mark in Ballia.

The situation in the flood-hit districts is not grim as out of the 293 flood affected villages only 67 villages are marooned, he said.

The state government has already deployed 16 teams of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), State Disaster Relief

Force (SDRF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in 17 flood-affected districts to carry out relief and rescue operation.

On the direction of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the relief and rescue operation is being carried out with Covid guideline on mind.

“The financial assistance has been distributed among victims within 24 hours and the district magistrates have been directed to send report on the loss of crop for distribution of compensation among farmers,” he said.

HT ■ Many parts of Uttar Pradesh face flood-like situations due to heavy rains. The state government has deployed boats in Lakhimpur Kheri for easy movement of people.