Punjab floods: NDRF, Army deployed to rescue 400 students, 40 employees of residential school

Chandigarh, Aug 27 (IANS) The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Army and police was deployed on Wednesday to rescue nearly 400 students, comprising boys and girls, and 40 staff members of residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, in boats. 

Students from Class VI to X, non-teaching staff members and teaching faculty members have moved to upper floors and rooftops of the school buildings.

The school complex has been marooned in four to five feet of water. Survivors told rescuers that ground floors were submerged in two to three feet of water.

“All schoolteachers, the Principal and other staff members are present in the school,” a survivor told the mediapersons, who reached the spot by riding boats with locals, who were also involved in the rescue operation.

As per the rescuers, the school, is located in Daburi village, some 12 km from Gurdaspur town in the Dinanagar subdivision, and at some places en route to the school the water level is seven to eight feet deep.

The flood situation across Punjab turned alarming as water levels in major dams such as Bhakra, Pong, Ranjit Sagar, and Shahpur Kandi surged close to or above their designed thresholds.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Principal Naresh Kumar said the school authorities have informed families of the stranded children.

Meanwhile, hundreds of villages in Punjab along the swollen Satluj, Beas, and Ravi rivers were flooded on Wednesday, severely affecting life and damaging crops after the floodgates of the Bhakra and Pong dams were opened.

The inflow into these reservoirs had alarmingly increased due to torrential rains in their catchment areas, mainly Himachal Pradesh.

Rescue and evacuation of people are currently underway by teams of the NDRF. The worst-affected districts are Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Fazilka, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar.

The Punjab government has announced that all primary, secondary, and senior secondary schools, both government and private, will be closed across the state till August 30, due to the heavy rainfall.

--IANS

vg/rad