INDIA. Mumbai: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Saturday retrieved 52 bodies from sites of landslides, rescued 1,800 stranded people, and evacuated 87 others to safer places in Maharashtra, which has witnessed floods due to heavy rains.
In Talaye in Poladpur in Raigad 50 people are still missing. Also over 75 cattle perished in the landslide. Nearly 130 people have reportedly died due to rain-related incidents in different districts till now.
On Saturday Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the Talaye village and consoled the villagers. He also instructed officials to prepare a water management plan so that in case of the deluge, the excess water can be diverted and put to alternate use. Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad announced a plan to redevelop the entire Taliye village through the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).
Union Minister Naraya Rane will be visiting the marooned Chiplun town in Ratnagiri on Sunday. He was accompanied by Ministers Vijay Vadettiwar and Eknath Shinde. The water level which was above 10 feet in Chiplun market for the last two days, is now slowly receding. The Chiplun town is said to be flooded due to the excess discharge of water from the nearby Koyana Dam located in Satara.
NDRF in a statement on Saturday said that an extensive search is on for missing persons, adding that rescue and relief operations are being conducted in Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Satara districts. For immediate response during the flood in any part of the country, 149 NDRF teams have been deployed or prepositioned, the force said.
Indian Army
Indian armed forces have been deployed to carry out flood relief operations. At present the districts of Ratnagiri, Raigad, Pune, Satara, Kolhapur, and Sangli have been affected.
The Army jawans engaged in rescue operations in Chiplun. (Photo credit: Indian Navy)
The Southern Command of the Indian Army has mobilized flood relief and rescue teams to assists the locals in flood-affected areas. A total of 15 flood relief teams from Aundh Military Station and Bombay Engineering Group, Pune have been deployed for flood relief and rescue operations in Sangli, Palus, Burli, and Chiplun. The columns are involved in the rescue of local villagers stranded in submerged areas and in restoring normalcy in the inundated areas. Over 100 persons have been rescued from the affected areas to safe locations.
The Indian Army has also been providing cooked meals and drinking water in tankers to the villagers. Medical camps have been established wherein medical teams of Army Doctors and Nursing Assistants have been deployed for providing necessary first aid and medicines to locals being evacuated from flood-affected areas. The Army with its deployed engineering efforts cleared the main route at Posare Budruk village of Ratnagiri district, which was blocked due to a landslide. The Army has established a Flood Relief Operation War Room at the Pune-based Headquarters Southern Command to monitor the ongoing situation.
Additional 10 flood relief teams have been put on alert for any contingency. Besides the army, the teams of Indian Navy, Coast Guard and the Indian Airforce have been co-ordinating with different agencies in rescue work.
Mishap in Mumbai
In another development, mishap, four labourers were killed when a lift of an under-construction building located at Hanuman Galli near BDD Chawl in Worli in Southcentral Mumbai crashed on Saturday evening. While six injured rescued by the fire brigade, were admitted to the KEM and Nair Hospital, six others were feared trapped. Soon after the incident, Maharashtra Minister Aditya Thackeray rushed to the site and assessed the situation.
In the meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued red and orange alerts for several regions in the state that are set to receive heavy rainfall in the next three days
