The ordeal of the people of flood-hit areas of Madhya Pradesh does not seem to end as more rain is predicted in the state in the next 72 hours.
According to Skymet weather forecast, rain will increase in the region once the weather system lying as a cyclonic circulation in the North West Bay of Bengal intensifies into a low pressure zone and moves west-northwestwards to start affecting the state after the next 48 hours.
This may lead to rivers swelling and inundating adjoining areas. The Narmada is still flowing above the danger mark at 979 feet and this prediction of more rain will do no good to the Hoshangabad district where 25 villages have been severely affected by flood.
The army and the air force have already been pressed into action in the district to rescue over one thousand people feared to be stranded in low-lying areas.
According to reports, six districts including Alirajpur, Badwani and Hoshangabad have been severely affected in the floods.
Meanwhile, the state government has raised compensation for losses sustained in flood-hit areas. Those who have lost their slum, kachha or pakka house, would now be given Rs 70,000, against the existing compensation of Rs 6,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000, respectively.
Photograph by Kumarakajee
