Uttarakhand floods: CM Pushkar Dhami ask ministers to camp in districts to oversee rescue operations

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday directed all the cabinet ministers to camp at their respective districts and oversee relief and rescue operations.

The Meteorological Department has issued a warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar and Dehradun districts on July 16 and 17 and Champawat, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts on July 17.

Normal life has been thrown out of gear due to incessant rains in the state for the past several days and several roads have been closed due to landslides, overflowing of rivers and bridges collapsing.

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According to officials, 395 roads are blocked in the state and 478 machines have been deployed to clear them.

Dhami has directed his ministers to stay in their respective districts and oversee the relief and rescue operations so that they can be conducted more effectively.

Meanwhile, rescue and relief operations are underway in various areas of flood-affected Laksar, Bhagwanpur, Haridwar and Roorkee in Haridwar district.

Three people died in Haridwar district due to heavy rains from July 11 to 14 and several villages were also affected.

According to information received from the State Emergency Operation Center, people in the affected villages are being shifted to safer places and food packets, drinking water and relief kits are being distributed to them. Apart from this, assistance is also being given to flood-affected families.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Police and Army have been deployed at sensitive places in the flood-affected areas of Haridwar.

State Disaster Management Department's Additional Secretary Savin Bansal said here that analysis of satellite images showed that 511 villages in the district were affected by waterlogging.

The Chief Minister had on Thursday inspected the flood-affected areas of Haridwar and directed the officials to provide immediate assistance to the affected people.

Secretary of Public Works Department, Pankaj Pandey held a meeting regarding traffic obstruction on closed roads and bridges at various places in the state.

He also directed the officers to ensure that the bridges, which were getting damaged due to heavy rains, are being repaired properly.