Death toll in Punjab floods rises to 57

Chandigarh, Sep 17 (PTI) The death toll due to the recent floods reached 57 with one more being reported from Barnala district, Punjab Revenue Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian said on Wednesday.

Mundian said the number of active relief camps has dropped from 41 to 38 within 24 hours, while the inmates declined from 1,945 to 1,176.

He described this fall of 769 inmates as a positive sign that rehabilitation is progressing smoothly and families are steadily returning homes.

The minister further informed that a total of 23,340 persons have been evacuated till date as the state continues to move back towards normalcy.

Mundian added that the number of affected villages is 2,484, while the population affected now stands at 3,89,279.

He pointed out that the crop area affected has risen from 1,98,525 hectares to 1,99,678 hectares, mainly due to fresh reporting from Fazilka district where over 1,153 more hectares of farmland have been impacted.

Meanwhile, urban local bodies across Punjab have stepped up action under the ongoing 10-day cleanliness campaign with focused work on road repair, clearance of silt from drains, restoration of damaged streetlights and water supply lines and removal of garbage from vulnerable points.

Dedicated teams supported with JCBs (earth moving machines), tractor trolleys, compactors and fogging machines are working round the clock to restore normalcy in flood-affected towns and cities.

Local Government Minister Dr. Ravjot Singh said ward-wise rosters have been prepared and circulated, ensuring daily focus areas are assigned to teams for systematic execution.

Nodal officers, including zonal commissioners, in larger corporations like Ludhiana are directly monitoring the operations by supervising two to three wards daily, in addition to regular sanitation drives.

The minister informed that awareness activities are being carried out every day to educate citizens about cleanliness and encourage their participation.

He highlighted that staff and local residents are being actively engaged through personal involvement of officers to motivate communities in maintaining hygiene.

Punjab faced one of its worst flood disasters in decades. The floods were a result of swollen Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers along with seasonal rivulets caused by heavy rainfall in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Besides, heavy rains in Punjab had also intensified the flooding situation. PTI CHS NB NB