10 more states witnessing flooding during last 3 years: Govt
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Jul, 2021 11:15 AM
New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) In addition to the existing flood-prone Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, extreme floods (water level above previous highest flood level) were seen in 10 more states, due to excess to large excess rainfall in these states combined with extremely heavy rainfall in short duration, the Parliament was told on Monday.
These states are Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question by LJD member M.V. Shreyams Kumar.
He also said that the Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal agency entrusted with the task of flood forecasting and early flood warnings in the country. Presently, it issues flood forecasts for 328 forecasting stations (190 river level forecast stations & 138 dam/barrage inflow forecast stations), covering 20 major river basins in 23 states and two Union Territories.
The CWC also maintains flood damage data of the country, according to which, maximum damages due to floods, during 2017-2019, were in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.
The Congress said that it was "appropriate for our initial statement to note that the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers had ruptured the delicate peace in the region".
