Chandigarh: With incessant rains continuing to lash across the region for the third consecutive day, the Punjab Police along with the teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have scaled up the rescue and evacuation operations in flood-ravaged districts in the state, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday. The worst-affected districts include SAS Nagar, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar Rural and Patiala.

Pertinently, following directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to ensure an elaborate flood protection mechanism is in place, DGP Gaurav Yadav and Special DGP, Law and Order, Arpit Shukla are personally supervising the situation in the state, while CPs and SSPs have been asked to remain in the field and personally monitor the situation in their concerned districts at regular intervals.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that 15 teams of NDRF and two units of SDRF have been deployed in the worst-hit districts to plug breaches and carry out evacuation and rescue operations. Additionally, 12 columns of the Army have also been called in to help Civil Administration in the districts including Rupnagar, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, SBS Nagar, SAS Nagar and Pathankot.

“Our teams along with NDRF, SDRF and Army have been working round-the-clock in extremely challenging conditions to safeguard the life and property of the people,” he said. Divulging more details, Special DGP Shukla said that the state control room has been actively working 24x7 for flood mitigation and hourly reports are being taken from districts to know the real-time situation in their concerned districts. /BI/