10 killed, 8 missing in rain havoc in Bhopal

Bhopal, Aug 14: At least 10 people were killed and 8 others reported missing as heavy rains played havoc in the Madhya Pradesh capital, which received record 30 cm rainfall overnight inundating low lying areas and paralysing normal life necessitating deployment of Army to assist the civil administration today.

About 20,000 people were shifted from lowlying areas to 66 relief camps opened in school buildings. Nearly 5,000 government employees were engaged in massive rescue and relief operations.

Nearly six lakh people were affected by heavy rains in the state capital. Ten bodies had already been recovered and search of the missing continued, Bhopal Collector S K Mishra said.

Immediate solatium of Rs 50,000 each was given to the next of kin of the dead, he said.

Army, which was deployed in the forenoon, was sent back as the situation improved with let up in rains this afternoon. Earlier, Army was deployed to assist the civil administration in Dwarikanagar, Mahamayi Ka Bagh, Bhadbhada and Pulpatra areas.

Five people were killed in a wall collapse in Bairagarh area and one each in Aishbag, Shyamla Hill, Habibganj, Kamalanagar and M P Nagar areas.

Half a dozen gates of Bhadbhada dam on the capital's Upper Lake had been opened due to heavy inflow. Vidisha and Raisen districts alerted for possible flooding following release of water from Bhadbhada.

Parwati, Kalisindh and many other rivers and rivulets were in spate disrupting road traffic from Bhopal to Indore, Hoshangabad and Sagar. Narmada touched danger level at Hoshangabad. Train movement also disrupted due to derailment of the engine of Rapti Sagar Express near Midghat in Bhopal division and waterlogging of tracks near the state capital. Landslide near Diwanganj station between Bhopal and Bina caused 6 to 7 hour delay of about a dozen trains as both Up and Down traffic was being routed through single track.

At Salamatpur station near Sanchi, few hundred irate passengers blocked the traffic protesting delay in movement of trains.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was monitoring the situation, issued directives to speed up relief efforts and to pay solatium to the affected.

Due to closure of most schools in the state capital, about 20,000 food packets prepared for the mid-day meal in schools had been diverted to the rain-affected people shifted to relief camps.

Operation of buses on many routes affected and telephone services crippled in many areas.

Inundation of low lying areas triggered protests in many localities with slum dwellers resorting to road blockade. A portion of the bounday wall of Raj Bhavan also collapsed.

Flight operations from Bhopal were disturbed in the forenoon due to heavy rains, but the situation improved with let up in rains in the afternoon.

The district authorities launched massive operation to provide relief to the affected and to disburse compensation, official sources said.

UNI