8 die in rain-triggered floods, Punjab govt to assess losses soon

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, July 11

Eight persons have lost their lives while three are missing due to rain and floods in the state so far. With thousands of acres of agriculture land being submerged in the water overflowing from the Ghaggar and the Sutlej, the Bhagwant Mann-led government has started assessing the losses.

Even as the government plans holding a special girdawari to assess the losses soon, the Revenue Department is ready to compensate victims of the flash floods for the loss of life of kin and cattle and damage to houses and buildings. After Mann took stock of the ground situation yesterday, he has asked the civil and police administration to gear up the relief and rescue operations.

The government will give a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to kin of the deceased. Of the eight deaths, two persons belong to Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Mohali, one death each was from Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr.

Other than this, 22 houses have been washed away, six each in Faridkot and Hoshiarpur, three in Fatehgarh Sahib and two each in Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Rajpura. One house in Pathankot district too has been damaged, according to a report compiled by the Revenue Department. The owners of pucca houses will get Rs 1.20 lakh. Since some cattle and goats too have been washed away, their owners too will be compensated.

Twelve of the 23 districts – Ropar, Mohali, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Moga, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Pathankot – have been the worst hit (total rainfall of 5,218 mm has been received in the state till date).

In Mohali, 268 villages are the worst-affected, Ropar 140 villages, Moga 30 villages, Hoshiarpur 25 villages, Ludhiana nine villages and Patiala seven villages, while 52 per cent of the population in the flooded villages of Ropar have been adversely affected.

“The CM has requisitioned 7,527 multi-purpose health workers to visit the affected areas and families,” said a senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Office. Till this evening, 9,500 persons have been evacuated and nearly 4,000 shifted to relief camps.

While the water level of the Ghaggar is receding in Patiala, the main problem now is the standing water in the fields and how it will affect the transplanted paddy there. The just-transplanted paddy is not covered for compensation in the disaster relief policy.

The main concern, however, now is the overflowing Sutlej, whose water level remains high at Phillaur, Harike and Hussainiwala.