Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary SR Mohanty on Monday claimed that the State is well-prepared to tackle any situation arising out of the heavy rainfall in the State. However, he admitted that the situation went out of control due to excessive rain in the last two weeks.
Against the average of 889 mm rainfall, the State received 1183.9mm, 33 per cent more than normal.
"West MP received more rainfall while some areas in Eastern State were rain deficient, so average 30 per cent more rain was received in the State this season," said Mohanty.
Explaining the trouble at Gandhi Sagar Dam (GSD) in Mandsaur, Mohanty said the dam had reached the mark of 1,318 feet around six feet above the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) on Saturday and against inflow of 16 lakh cusec of water, the outflow was just 6.6 lakh cusec.
The Union Cabinet Secretary had convened a video conference meeting with Chief Secretaries of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan on Sunday on the grim situation due to flooding of Gandhi Sagar dam.
"As water reached the level of 1,318 ft on Saturday at GSD, we in consultation with Rajasthan officials released water into three downstream dams of neighbouring State with prior information of relief and rescue measures there, said the senior officer.
Due to GSD backwaters, over 80 villages were marooned in Neemuch and rescue efforts were started to save locals in Rampura basti.
The officer claimed that GSD as per latest reports has receded to 1,315 ft level and if there are no unusual rains in next few days, the dam is absolutely safe. To add, with water going beyond FRL, there were strong rumours that the dam was showing cracks. Earlier, Mandsaur collector Manoj Pushp had also warned those who were spreading 'lies' and claiming that dam was completely safe.
In Mandsaur, the official said 955 villages are affected due to torrential rains in five tehsils and on Sunday there were 21,000 people in relief camps and as the situation normalised, the number reduced to 15,000 by Monday.
In Manasa tehsil of Neemuch, a dozen villages with the population of 30,000 are effected and 2,500 were evacuated to safety while crops have been damaged in 75,000 hectare area, said the officer. In Ratlam, 700 have been evacuated to safety. In Bhind, 3,500 families are being helped by Army, home guards and State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) while at Morena, 3,000 people in 35 villages of five tehsils are affected and relief and rescue operations were underway.
Situation under control in Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ratlam and Agar Malwa while we are keeping a watch on things at Bhind, Morena and Sheopur, said the top bureaucrat.
