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BIG STORY JULY 21, 2023 | The Indian Eye 5

port to a blame game or point fingers in-charge Amarjit Singh along with
at each other. Right now, we need to his team immediately reached the
work as a team. I, too, can say a lot of spot and alerted the people after re-
things but this isn’t what we should do ceiving information about the breach
at this time.” of the dam.
Meanwhile, at the joint press “The Sonali River flowing
briefing, CM Kejriwal said people, through dozens of villages of Laksar
who have been grappling with flood- swelled. As a result, the Sonali River
ing woes over the last couple of days, dam broke down near Kuan Kheda
will get a measure of respite soon, as village. As soon as the dam broke, the
the rising waters of the Yamuna was water of the river started flowing on
receding slowly but surely. the other side,” they said.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Earlier today, the Kedarnath
Delhi’s Public Works Department Yatra was stopped at Uttarakhand’s
(PWD) Minister Atishi said the wa- Sonprayag and Gaurikund due to
ter level of the Yamuna was receding continuous heavy rains.
gradually at a rate of 0.1 meter and Keeping in view the safety of the
will it take another day for normalcy Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, Meenakashi Lekhi takes stock of the flood passengers, the district administration
to be restored. situation at Red Fort in New Delhi on Friday (ANI) stopped the passengers at Sonprayag
Atishi said no individual could be and Gaurikund due to continuous
blamed for the prevailing situation as bad weather.
it is the fallout of incessant and heavy situation due to heavy rainfall. train services as a precautionary mea- Due to rain, four state roads and
rainfall over North India. Meanwhile, in the northeast state sure due to the flood-like situation. 10 link roads were closed due to de-
In West Bengal, responding of Assam, thousands of people in Bas- The General Manager of the bris. Due to heavy rains, Mandakini
promptly to a requisition by the civil bari area of Bongaigaon district have Northern Railway said the flood-like and Alaknanda rivers are in spate, the
administration, troops of the Indian been affected after the flood waters situation, the railways had to stop officials said.
Army rescued 72 villagers, including of Aie River submerged their homes. train services as a precautionary mea- Amid the heavy rains in Uttara-
24 children from Mechpara village Many of them have taken shelter on sure. He further said the line from khand, the India Meteorological De-
near Hashimara in Jalpaiguri, who roads and high lands. Ambala to Delhi via Saharanpur and partment (IMD) issued an orange
were stuck due to floods, according to The flood waters have damaged Meerut was also closed. On July 11, alert for July 12 on Monday. “Orange
the press release of the Indian Army. several roads and washed away many Delhi Shahdara’s old bridge railway Alert: #Uttarakhand and adjoining
“The rapid flow of the Kaljani Riv- houses in the area. Many people of line was also closed due to increasing areas of Western #UttarPradesh like-
er led to the flooding of Mechpara vil- Basbari area are facing massive prob- water levels. ly to get Heavy to Very heavy rainfall
lage and the washing of the only bridge lems include food crisis, drinking wa- “On July 9, the Kalka-Shimla line (115.6 to 204.4mm) on 12th July”,
connecting Mechpara with the main ter and many of them have become was closed. On July 9-10, maximum IMD shared in a tweet.
highway. Responding promptly to a homeless. The locals fear that the services were closed in the Amba- In another development, amid
requisition by the civil administration, flood situation in the area will become la division and between the Jaland- the grim situation in Himachal
troops of the Kripan Division of Trish- more worst after the Kurichu dam har-Firozepur divisions,” he added. Pradesh due to incessant rainfall, Is-
akti Corps acted promptly and rushed authority of Bhutan started releas- In Uttarakhand, amid persistent raeli Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM)
to the site. Although the fast-flowing ing excess water on Friday morning. rainfall and a breach in the Sona- to India, Ohad Nakash Kaynar, along
waters posed a huge threat to life, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himan- li River dam has raised a threat of with officials himself, embarked on a
army personnel crossed the river and ta Biswa Sarma said on Friday morn- floods in the Laksar town of Haridwar rescue mission on Thursday to locate
established a rope crossing to facilitate ing that the Kurichu dam authority district, officials said on Wednesday. the missing Israeli citizens in the state.
the movement of villagers to a safe lo- started releasing excess water. According to officials, the Son- A total of 88 people have lost
cation. With continuous efforts under Amid heavy rain and flash floods, ali River dam breached near village their lives in the state since June 24
the heavy rains, the troops evacuated Northern Railway has suspended Kuan Kheda. Laksar Police Station as rain continues to lash Himachal
72 villagers, including 24 children,” Pradesh, an official statement issued
it said. Heavy rainfall was witnessed by the state disaster management au-
all along North Bengal on the nights thority said on Wednesday Taking to
of July 12 and 13, which led to the Twitter, Kaynar said, “Taking off to
Torsa and Kaljani rivers of Alipur #HimachalPradesh to locate the in-
Duar district crossing danger levels. communicado Israelis. On the way we
In Punjab, around 40,000 food saw collapsed roads and mud slides.
packets are being prepared to be sup- Nature is sometimes overwhelming”.
plied to the people in areas affected “In this video you can see an
by floods, Punjab Food Supplies Min- example of the mudslides and rocks
ister Lal Chand Kataruchak said on collapsing on the road. This is one of
Thursday. “CM, our party MLAs, many such instances of natural de-
and the chairman are with the people struction,” he added in a subsequent
and are taking feedback from them. tweet. Notably, the Kasol region in
Around 40,000 food packets are be- Himachal Pradesh is famously called
ing prepared for supply to people. We as ‘Mini Israel’, because of the high
are working according to demand. proportion of tourists here.
There is nothing to worry about; the There is no sector of economic
government has made complete ar- Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu embraces a young girl during his activity that is left unaffected by the
rangements,” the minister said. Some meeting with the people rescued from the flood-affected area triggered by torrential rains at rains. As more rain is likely in the
areas in Punjab including in Patiala Choling Village in Kinnaur on Thursday (ANI) coming days and weeks, the flooding
and Sangrur have witnessed flood-like and chaos is far from over.

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