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Rivers breach red mark; 65k hit, over 8k hectare flooded

Lucknow: Rising water in Saryu and Sharda rivers has affected more than 65,000 people across eight districts in UP, including Barabanki, Ayodhya, Kushinagar and Gorakhpur. Around 8,400 hectares of cropped land is under water and a survey is being carried out to assess the exact damage.

Relief commissioner Sanjay Goyal said the situation was being monitored at both the state and district level and the flood situation was so far “not alarming”.



He said: “As per our reports, 240 villages under 17 tehsils are affected by the rising water. These include 57 villages in Barabanki, two in Ayodhya, nine in Kushinagar, 80 in Gorakhpur, 14 in Azamgarh, seven in Basti, 68 in Sant Kabir Nagar and 3 in Sitapur.”

Goyal said agricultural land has been affected in seven districts, comprising Kushinagar, Mau, Sitapur, Barabanki, Basti, Gonda and Sant Kabir Nagar. Of this, 8,400 hectare where crops have been sown was under water and the government was carrying out an assessment of the exact loss in order to be able to compensate farmers, he said.

“The irrigation department has informed us that the two rivers are flowing above the danger mark. Sharda is 8cm above the red mark in Lakhimpur, while Saryu and Ghaghra are 16cm above the danger line in Ballia,” he said.

The official said on July 10, it was decided to distribute food to affected families. Each kit consists of 10kg flour, 10kg rice, 10kg potato, 5kg puffed rice, 2kg chana, 2kg arhar dal, 500gm salt, 250gm turmeric chilli & dhaniya powder each, 5 litre kerosene oil, one packet of candles, one match box, 10 packets of biscuits, 1 litre refined oil, chlorine tablets and bathing soaps. Till now, 94 shelters have been set up and 4,646 kits have been distributed. The relief department has given 24,106 m tarpaulin to each family. 381 boats have been deployed and 647 flood centres have been set up.

For animals, the government is providing 5kg fodder per animal per day. In addition to this, 14 animal shelters have been set up. Goyal said the national disaster relief force has been deployed in Bahraich, Siddharthnagar, Shraswasti, Kushinagar, Maharajganj and Prayagraj. The state disaster relief force was deployed in Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Balrampur and Moradabad. The PAC was stationed at Bahraich, Barabanki, Shrawasti and Balrampur.

Government has allocated Rs 9 crore to sensitive districts as an interim relief fund.

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