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Army called out to tackle floods in eastern UP

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The army was called out on Sunday to help the civic authorities tackle the flood situation in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Air Force helicopters are being pressed into service to air-drop food and other essential items in villages marooned following fresh flooding in parts of Gorakhpur district, where an embankment was breached.

While the absence of rain over the past few days had brought some respite in handling the crisis, arising on account of inundation of vast areas, the release of water from a dam in upstream Rapti, across the border in Nepal, worsened the situation again.

The authorities are apprehensive that any further release of water from the dam or fresh rain will inundate the Lucknow-Gorakhpur highway, as water had already reached quite close.

Movement on the Gorakhpur-Varanasi highway was affected due to the inundation at some places.

"Military personnel are making all efforts to plug the breach," a spokesman added.

Gorakhpur district magistrate Devesh Chaturvedi told rediff.com over the telephone, "Even though the release of water from the dam raised the level of the Rapti, there was no cause for fear to Gorakhpur city." He said adequate relief measures were being taken To evacuate people from water-logged areas and marooned villages.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta is undertaking an aerial survey of flood-affected areas of eastern UP on Monday.

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