Almost 2,900 individuals, among them 27 school-going children, were saved from different districts of Madhya Pradesh by the Army and other authorities following torrential rains lashing the state and leading to flooding, officials said on Wednesday.
A flood-like condition existed in Shivpuri district due to heavy rains, following which authorities requested the Army for relief and rescue operations. A similar condition existed in Guna district, where a culvert bridge collapsed, they added.
Residents of a number of villages in Guna have been directed to shift to safer locations.
Among those districts, Dindori, Vidisha, Jabalpur, Narmadapuram, Alirajpur, Rajgarh and Betul were also facing a flood-like situation and swift relief and rescue work was being undertaken by the administration, according to officials.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav took updates about the flood situation from officials at the Home Guard headquarters and issued necessary instructions to collectors and other rain-hit district officials.
Almost 2,900 people have been saved (in past two days) from different districts, including Morena, Damoh, Raisen, Guna, Ashoknagar, Shivpuri, Sagar and Vidisha, he informed newspersons.
"We will give complete assistance to the (flood) victims. The government will arrange for everything, including food, shelter and clothes. This weather situation is going to continue for two to four days more. We are warning people," Yadav said.
The government is ready to assist the flood-affected people. Two districts have been asked for the Defence Ministry's helicopters and they will soon be deployed, he added.
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The Army on Wednesday rescued 27 schoolchildren who were stuck on the way back home in a bus after an unexpected rise in the Sindh river's water level due to heavy rains in Badarwas of Shivpuri district, another official said.
These 27 students, who were studying at Rising Souls School in Badarwas, were going home in the bus but were left stranded on Tuesday near village Pachavali when a bridge was flooded with rising water level, he added.
The children were inhabitants of neighbouring villages like Kundyai and Bijrauni, as per him.
Kolaras Sub-Divisional Officer (SDOP) Sanjay Mishra stated, "It turned out to be impossible for the bus to move ahead of the bridge because currents of the Sindh river flowing near Pachavali were very strong and therefore the children had to be halted there." According to him, due to the seriousness of the situation, assistance was sought from the Army, which sent a team immediately and rescued all the children with the help of a boat.
Another officer added that when the Panchavali sarpanch received information, he took all the students to his home and arranged for their food and overnight stay.
The officer informed that the children got to see their family members after over 30 hours. Once rescued safely, the children chanted slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'.
Kolaras MLA Mahendra Yadav, who arrived at the site, expressed gratitude to the Army and the administration for rescuing the children safely.
The IMD has sent out an alert of heavy rain in most districts within 24 hours. It has forecast 8 to 9 inches of rain in a number of districts in the next one day, namely Bhopal, Vidisha, Narmadapuram, Raisen, Sehore, Ashoknagar, Guna, Shivpuri and Rajgarh.
Because of constant rain and overflowing streams and rivers, numerous villages of Shivpuri district have been flooded. Keeping in view the condition, the district administration summoned the Army from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday night, the officials mentioned.
Over 250 individuals were relocated to safer locations in the Kolaras assembly constituency.
Kolaras SDM Anoop Srivastava informed an Army team was rescuing marooned villagers and also distributing foodgrains and other necessary relief materials to the poor.
Major Shivam Ganguly, who was leading the relief and rescue operation, informed two of their teams were working in relief in different locations and a medical team was deployed.
In Guna district, following a flood-like condition in tribal-majority Bamori block, people of eight villages have been directed to shift to safe areas.
Guna Collector Kishore Kanyal informed that because of the damage to the Kalora dam at Bamori, the people of Singapur, Tumda, Kudka, Bandha, Umradha and Baniyani villages have been directed to shift to safe areas.
Chief Minister Yadav stated, "Our government will arrange for everything — from food to clothes — for the victims of the floods." The CM added that he toured rescue centres around the state on Wednesday from the Home Guard Flood Disaster Centre in Bhopal.
Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia addressed the collectors of Ashoknagar, Shivpuri and Guna districts via video conference in the evening on Tuesday and instructed them to provide food, drinking water and medical facilities in affected places at once.
"No slackness or delay in relief and rescue work will be tolerated," he wrote in a post on X.
All concerned departments were directed to work in coordination so that no family is denied relief, Scindia observed.
Scindia informed that he was in continuous contact with Union Home and Defence Ministries and regular updates regarding the situation were being provided to CM Yadav as well.
"Central and state governments are committed in full to carry out the relief operations smoothly," he asserted.
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