300 Punjab villages badly affected by floods

Chandigarh, Aug 21 (IANS) More than 300 villages, mainly in Punjab's Ropar, Jalandhar and Ferozepur districts, were badly affected in floods by the Satluj river, damaging crops in thousands of acres and forcing thousands of villagers to spend nights on rooftops.

Authorities on Wednesday deployed helicopters to airdrop food and water supplies to the villagers.

In Ropar, the district administration declared holiday in all educational institutes till Thursday.

The government has declared the current flood situation in the state as a natural calamity.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday told the Financial Commissioner to officially declare natural calamity in the villages as a unit in order to facilitate the affected people to claim insurance against the losses from various companies.

He also asked the Finance Department to immediately clear the pending relief funds to the tune of around Rs 100 crore for expeditious disbursement by the Revenue Department through the respective Deputy Commissioners.

An official with the state Drainage Department said the overall situation in the Beas and Ravi rivers was under control though danger continued to lurk in areas adjacent to the Satluj river and further downstream at Harike headworks in Ferozepur.

Meanwhile, food relief teams of the Indian Army under the Western Command were carrying out rescue operations in various areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Teams with 60-70 persons each have been deployed with the requisite equipment at Mirthal (Pathankot), Dinanagar (Gurdaspur), Phillaur, Nakodar, Shahkot in Jalandhar and near Karnal in Haryana, an official statement said.