Army, air force alerted after Narmada overflows danger mark

BHOPAL: Army and air force have been pressed into service to speed up relief work in Hoshangabad district where heavy downpour has inundated low lying areas of the town with Narmada river flowing 18-feet above the danger mark.


Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a high level meeting today to review the situation and directed collectors of the affected districts to take all possible measures to prevent any untoward incident.

Since the past 24 hours, 17 people including 12 in Narsinghpur district and five in Sagar district lost their lives, Chouhan told reporters after the meeting.

State Chief Secretary R Parsuram and Director General of Police (DGP) Nandan Dubey among others were present on the occasion.

Besides the army, two Indian Air Force helicopters were also pressed into service to rescue affected people in Hoshangabad, Harda, Sehore, Raisen, Dewas, Khargone, Khandwa, Barwani and Alirajpur districts, he said.

In Hoshangabad district, 3,000 home guards and 70 boats have been deployed to rescue people stranded in villages cut off by the road link, Chouhan said.

Crops have been damaged in about 6000 hectares of land in 50 villages of the affected districts.

After the meeting, Chouhan, the Chief Secretary and the DGP left for an aerial survey of the affected districts.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) I S Dani, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Manoj Shrivastava and Narmada Valley Development Authority Principal Secretary Rajnish Vaish among others were present at the meeting.