Rajasthan: LS Speaker Om Birla inspects flood-hit areas on an inflatable boat
Premium'The floods have caused heavy losses. The situation is dire. In Hadoti, the flood has damaged crops,' Om Birla said after the inspection
After taking an aerial view of the flood situation in Sangod city in Rajasthan, Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota-Bundi MP Om Birla on Saturday inspected the city in Kota district on an inflatable boat.
"The floods have caused heavy losses. The situation is dire. In Hadoti, the flood has damaged crops," he said after the inspection.
Earlier today, he took an aerial survey of flood-hit areas even as the Army was roped in to lead rescue operations after several people were trapped inside their houses due to the deluge, officials said.
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At least 140 people were rescued at various places in the Sangod area of the district and evacuated to safer places till 11 am on Saturday, Kota Collector Ujjawal Rathore said.
He said the situation in Sangod is under control now.
Birla, who is an MP from Rajasthan’s Bundi, took the aerial survey in a helicopter of the flood-affected areas in the morning, the officials said.
District Collector Rathore and Superintendent of Police, Kota (Rural), Sharad Choudhary rushed to the spot at midnight and monitored the rescue operation till Saturday morning.
Besides the Army, the SDRF, the NDRF and the district administration were helping in rescue efforts.
The situation is now normal in Sangod as the water level has come down. However, an assessment of the damage of property, crops and houses is yet to be carried out, Congress MLA from Sangod Bharat Singh said.
Singh questioned the presence of girls and staff in the residential school when the classes were off. He alleged that the principal of the school fled on noticing the rising water level on Friday evening.
“I am of the opinion that action should be initiated against the headmaster of the school," he said.
Several states are hit by rain-related incidents amid the monsoon season.
Meanwhile, the fatality count in rain-related incidents in flood-ravaged Gwalior and Chambal divisions of Madhya Pradesh increased to 24, officials said on Saturday. The authorities said that the flood situation is slowly improving and at present "no life-threatening" scenario exists in the region, where rescue and relief work is currently on. “The death toll in the rain-related incidents in the flood-hit parts of the state has risen to 24. These fatalities were recorded between August 1 and 7," Revenue Secretary Gyaneshwar Patil said
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