Punjab rain: Heavy rain for the last few days has led to traffic jam and flooding at many areas
Schools and colleges will remain shut in Punjab on Tuesday due to heavy rain, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said today. Heavy rain the state has led to rise in water level in the downstream areas of Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers.
The chief minister has also announced assessment of crop damage due to heavy rain in the last four days.
The food and civil supplies and animal husbandry ministers have been asked to appoint officers to distribute food packets to people in flooded areas. Dry fodder is also being arranged for farm animals in the state known for its high agriculture and dairy output.
Several trains across Punjab were diverted and cancelled, and many still were running late.
The heavy rain in Punjab is due to retreating monsoon, which has also affected neighbouring Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Schools were closed in Kinnaur, Kullu and Kangra districts in Himachal Pradesh today; they are likely to remain shut on Tuesday too.
Beas river is in spare, and floodwater has reached several villages and towns along the river in Himachal Pradesh.
The gates at Sukhna lake have now been opened after a gap of over 15 years.
The authorities in Chandigarh opened the gates of the regulator end at the Union Territory's Sukhna lake, in order to ease the flow of water after heavy rain. Reports say the Sukhna lake gates were last opened in 2008.
BJP legislator from Hamirpur, Anurag Thakur, has asked the centre to compensate the losses due to heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh. Amid the flood, an earthquake of magnitude 3.7 was reported at Sirmaur two hours after noon.
In Chandigarh, traffic was affected as water accumulated at many places in the city. Complaints of water entering residential areas were received by the authorities in the adjoining towns of Panchkula in Haryana and Mohali in Punjab.