Yogi surveys flood-hit areas in Kheri,Pilibhit, distributes relief kits

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday conducted a survey of flood-hit areas in Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit districts, met the affected people and distributed relief kits.

After the survey, he said, “...133 villages are flood-affected due to heavy rainfall in the first week itself of July. Thousands of hectares of cropland and crops have been affected. Public representatives and local administration are working. Near Sharada Barrage and other areas, due to timely precautions against flood, a large loss of life and property could be averted.”

As of now, 12 districts of the state are flood-affected, he said, adding that the rescue and relief operations are ongoing at war footing in all of these districts.

“Due to the timely efforts of your MLAs and public representatives, a large population could be saved from floods. But, due to the release of large amounts of water from Nepal and Uttarakhand, the water level of rivers rose a lot due to which, we are facing a flood in the first week of July itself. NDRF, SDRF, and PAC food units have deployed here, and local divers have also been stationed. Directions have been given to arrange for boats in every Gram Panchayat,” he said.

In Lakhimpur Kheri, he conducted an aerial survey of Pallia, Nighasan, Lakhimpur and Dhaurahra tehsils. Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh accompanied him during the survey.

Adityanath, along with Lakhimpur Kheri district magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal and SP Ganesh Prasad Saha, also visited the flood-affected Mahadev village and the adjoining areas on a motor-boat and assured the people of all assistance.

After the aerial and ground surveys, he distributed relief kits among the flood victims in a brief programme at Sharda barrage and assured the affected people that his government stood by them in their hour of need.

He also assured the people of flood-prone villages that they would be rehabilitated in a specially developed colony if they so wished.

He said his government would provide monetary aid of ?1.20 lakh towards damage to houses, besides giving “pattas” and assistance to those rendered homeless by floods, he said.

Besides, the chief minister and the Jal Shakti minister held a meeting with officials at Shardanagar. The chief minister instructed the authorities that saving lives and property during floods was his top priority and all officials must be always on alert.

Stressing on better coordination among the officials, quick action and better management as key points, he asked the NDRF, SDRF and PAC teams to be alert round the clock.

The officials present at the meeting included divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob, additional director general of police, zone, SB Shirodkar, inspector general of police, range Prashant Kumar, Lakhimpur Kheri district magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal, irrigation department officials and public representatives, including BJP MLAs Yogesh Verma, Vinod Awasthi, Romi Sahni, Manju Tyagi, Anoop Gupta and others.