Occurrence of natural calamities have become synonym with Uttarakhand. But it seems that the Government of Uttarakhand wakes up only when such catastrophe strikes as the Himalayan State is presently reeling under.
The matter of fact is that following no spadework carried out on time threat of floods continues to strike beleaguered people from local rivers like Gola, Koshi, lewara to name a few in different parts of Udham Singh Nagar, including Shantipuri, Kichha , Sitarganj.
More so, hundreds of families have already been affected due to floods in Udham Singh Nagar's Sitarganj, Khatima to name a few places. The officials concerned of the Udham Singh Nagar district administration have admitted that possibility of floods can be minimised by way of desilting from along the banks of different local rivers.
In case of increasing level of water in those rivers, silt is deposited in a vast area along the said river banks. By removing the silt, the effect of floods can be weakened to a reasonable extent, added the officials concerned.
Besides, efforts are also on to remove encroachment which has caused water logging in areas like Khatima city, as the officials concerned said. However, it is quite concerning to know that many local rivers flooded with rainwater have also caused huge damage to crops and properties in different parts of Udham Singh Nagar including Sitarganj.
Surprisingly, the officials concerned of the Udham Singh Nagar district administration are waking up to manage the floods only when dozens of villages and parts of Sitarganj, Khatima to name a few are reeling under the floods.
The Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna and some other leaders have already visited the affected sites. Keeping in view flow of water towards colonies and populated areas, though the Udham Singh Nagar district administration has also given order to the authorities concerned to desilt the riverbanks of the local rivers, these efforts now seem to be too late in case weather conditions continue to remain grim.
Meanwhile, after reviewing the situation caused by floods in the district, Brijesh Kumar Sant, District Magistrate, Udham Singh Nagar, has now also asked the officials concerned to form a committee to look into the desilting matter and submit the report in this regard as early as possible so that desilting works cold be be started accordingly.