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.
From helping in cordon-and-search ops, negotiating obstacles to lobbing grenades at terrorists holed up in buildings, the Indian Army will soon have robots to help it in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Several districts in Punjab and Haryana reported air quality indices in the “severe” and “very poor” categories on Wednesday even as the number of stubble-burning incidents dropped in the two agrarian states over the past few days.
The national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport will soon sport a dedicated terminal for private jets by early next year, a senior company official has said.
Gurugram is the most polluted city in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday with four out of the five most polluted areas falling within the city, as per Skymet AQI app data.
Pointing to the “lavish spends” of the SGPC on holding separate programmes to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in Sultanpur Lodhi on Tuesday, Singh said it was evident that the religious body was flush with funds.
With air pollution in the city again touching 'emergency' levels, the Delhi government on Wednesday ordered schools in the national capital to remain shut till Friday.
