Rains disrupt normal life in western MP

Bhopal, Aug 10 (UNI) Normal life in western Madhya Pradesh remained disrupted today with heavy rains lashing Indore and Ujjain divisions.

Road traffic on Agra-Mumbai highway in Shajapur district, Bhopal- Indore road near Sonkutch in Dewas district and Indore-Nagpur road near Bagli in Dewas district remain disrupted due to swollen rivers and rivulets.

Ujjain, which was getting piped water supply once in three days, is now getting water supplies daily and the gates of Gambhir dam were opened in view of inflow from Indore's Yashwant Sagar reservoir. Water level of the holy Kshipra was also rising.

Official sources said Gambhir dam's storage capacity which reduced to 188 mcft in the first week of August, rose to 2010 mcft against its full capacity of 2250 mcft.

Several low-lying areas were inundated due to rain water, while road traffic to other places remain disrupted. Many schools declared holiday today.

At Indore, residents of many low-lying areas were shifted to safety. The worst affected areas include C P Shekhar Nagar and Govind Nagar localities.

Ten people stranded in Gautampura area following breach of a pond had been rescued. The city received about 8 c m rainfall overnight raising the season's total rainfall to 62 cm.

Earlier, flood and rain-related incidents claimed at least 22 lives in the past five days and about 3000 houses damaged in western Madhya Pradesh.

UNI Team-SP VD VV1503