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With 48 dead in Punjab floods, PM Modi's visit tomorrow; Army, NDTF frontline relief ops | 5 points
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Punjab on Tuesday, September 9, to take stock of the flood situation that has led to the loss of at least 48 lives.
The Indian Army is carrying out rescue and relief operations on a war footing in flood-hit Punjab, where dozens have died, scores have been displaced and thousands of hectares of land with crops have suffered damages due to the deluge.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Punjab on Tuesday, September 9, to take stock of the situation.
Relief and rescue operations are being led by the Indian Army along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Border Security Force (BSF), Punjab Police and district authorities. Scores of locals, aid organisations as well as celebrities have also joined the relief works.
The Army has deployed dozens of columns for relief operations at the affected areas.
Punjab floods | Latest updates in 5 points
– Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit chief Sunil Jakhar had informed that PM Modi will be visiting Punjab on Monday to review the flood situation. Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who was hospitalised on Friday after he complained of exhaustion and low heart rate, has also been monitoring the relief and rescue operations.
– Punjab is facing one of its worst flood disasters in decades, attributed to the swollen rivers – the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi – along with seasonal rivulets caused by heavy rainfall in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. While the water inflow in several dams and levels of rivers have come down in Punjab marginally since Sunday, the situation still remains grim.
– With two more persons losing their lives, the death toll in Punjab due to floods went up to 48 on Sunday while crops on 1.76 lakh hectares have been damaged, a PTI news agency report cited officials.
– All schools, colleges and universities in Punjab will reopen from September 8, education minister Harjot Bains said on Sunday, days after educational institutions across the state were closed due to the floods. If any school or college is affected by floods, the decision on its closure will be taken by the respective deputy commissioner, the minister said. Private schools can reopen from September 8, but in government schools, classes will resume from September 9.
– The water level in the Pong dam dropped by about two feet to 1,392.20 feet, though it remained two feet more than its upper limit capacity of 1,390 feet on Sunday evening, officials said. On Saturday, the water level in the Pong dam, built on the Beas river, was 1,394.19 feet, with inflow in the dam dropping to 36,968 cusecs from 47,162 cusecs on Saturday. About 90,000 cusecs were being released into the Shah Nehar barrage, officials said, as per PTI. Water level in the Bhakra dam, built on the Sutlej river, on Sunday was 1,677.98 feet as against 1,678.14 feet on Saturday. The water flow in the dam stood at 66,891 cusecs, and the outflow was 70,000 cusecs, the officials said.
