The water level in the Ganga which had crossed the danger level and reached 295.5 metres on Sunday midnight and at 3 AM on Monday, started receding later on Monday morning. After 9 AM the Ganga water level came down to normal on Monday giving much respite to the city residents. However the situation in areas where water had entered the residential colonies and agricultural fields continued to be problematic. Flood alert sounded in villages continued on Monday and all flood posts continued to monitor the situation during the day with rescue operation in some parts of Aikkad village in Laksar Tehsil.
The torrential rains which started from Saturday night and continued till Sunday caused havoc in the city. To add to the woes the continuous rainfall in mountainous areas raised the Ganga water level upto the danger mark. Speaking to The Pioneer, Irrigation department executive engineer of upper Ganga canal, Dinesh Kumar said, “At around 3 AM on Monday, the Ganga water level had reached 295.5 metres, a metre above the danger mark of 294 metres. But on Monday morning at 9 AM, it started receding and the water level was reported at 293.90 metres.”
The district administration had sounded flood alert in low lying areas of Pathri and Aikkad villages. The disaster management team rescued a truck trapped in broken embankment of a seasonal river flowing through Aikkad Kalan village. The villages of Allawalpur, Subhashgarh, Dinarpur, Sehdevpur, Chitti koti, Dandi, Bukkanpur and other villages were. The villagers alleged that despite their complaints for the past two years to Public Works Department the repair of broken embankment was not carried out.
Mohan Sachdeva, of Allawalpur said, “All our Gram Panchayat members had written collectively to PWD for repair works to be carried out along the seasonal river which overflows during monsoon season but no action has been taken. The heavy vehicles like tractors trolleys often get stuck when water level increases making it impossible for anyone to cross the area. After being marooned for two days, there was some relief on Monday afternoon.”
The disaster management officer Meera Kaintura said, “Due to intermittent rains, no casualty has been reported. On Monday situation has become normalised in most of the areas, barring few low lying areas of Pathri and Laksar Tehsils. The control room is constantly monitoring the water level and villages’ situation.”
