Amid continuous downpour, the Uttar Pradesh government has expedited its relief and rescue operations on a war footing to prevent any loss of life and damage to property in the flood-affected areas of the state.

The government has been making elaborate arrangements to provide relief to people affected by the floods. The work of shifting people in the flood affected areas to other places as well as providing dry ration is being done at a rapid pace. As many as 951 flood shelters complying with Covid protocol have been set up for the people trapped in the flood affected areas of the state. In the flood relief camps, facilities like drinking water, toilets, clothes, utensils and beddings among others are being provided.

On the instruction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as many as 70,050 lunch packets and over 9,506 dry ration packets have been distributed by the government to the flood affected people in the last 24 hours.

Due to heavy rains, as many as 1,243 villages of over 23 districts of the state have been affected by the floods. At the same time, the water levels of rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Betwa, Sharda, Kuwano and Chambal have risen above the danger level. Teams of NDRF, SDRF along with PAC have been deployed for relief and rescue work in these districts. The command of the relief and rescue operations has been given to PAC in 39 districts, while SDRF has been deployed in 11 districts and NDRF in nine districts.

The state government has deployed as many as 1,992 boats for rescue operations in the flood affected areas while 1,228 flood posts have been set up in the state. As many as 564 medical teams have been constituted in the flood-hit areas and they are providing immediate medical treatment to the people trapped in the floods.

The Jal Shakti minister has been directed to review the flood situation and relief and rescue work with the officials of the local administration. An aerial survey of the flood-hit areas around the Chambal and Yamuna districts is being conducted. Over 20,768 dry ration kits have been distributed by the government so far, while 9,506 people have been distributed dry ration kits in the last 24 hours. The state government has distributed 1,67,213 lunch packets to the affected people till now. In the last 24 hours itself, 70,050 lunch packets have been distributed.

Along with saving people, the state government is also working to save innocent animals. In the last 24 hours, 36 animal camps have been set up whereas till now the government has set up over 504 animal relief camps in the state. In addition, a total of 2,77,075 animals have been vaccinated against foot and mouth diseases.

The NDRF and SDRF have rescued 536 people from flood affected areas: Teams of NDRF and SDRF have evacuated 536 people from flood affected areas and have shifted them to relief camps. As many as 10 teams of NDRF have been deployed in Etawah, Jalaun, Bahraich, Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Ballia and Varanasi districts. Besides, 12 teams of SDRF have been deployed in Etawah, Jalaun, Bareilly, Bijnor, Lucknow, Balrampur, Prayagraj, Agra, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Ballia and Kushinagar districts.

Similarly, 17 PAC teams have been deployed in Sitapur, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Agra, Azamgarh, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, Ghaziabad, Etah and Meerut districts.

Air Force helicopters have been distributing relief material to the flood affected families. Due to the floods in Chambal and Yamuna rivers, the contact between Madhogarh tehsil of Jalaun and five villages of Kalpi has been lost. Relief material was distributed to the families in these villages with the help of two Air Force helicopters.

Committees have been formed by the government at the village level for rescue and relief works in the flood affected villages. To maintain coordination with these village level committees and nodal officers, police personnel with one wireless set each have been deployed in each village.