LUCKNOW: The week-long downpour has thrown normal life out of gear across Uttar Pradesh but on the flipside it came as a boon for the rivers, which had been gasping for life for quite some time much to the concern of the irrigation department.
Be it as prominent a river as Gomti in Sultanpur, Jaunpur or even Lucknow or Varuna in Varanasi. All had taken the shape of a nullah (drain) in summers due to paucity of water.
Similar was the plight of Suheli in central-western UP, Hindon in western UP, Betwa and Ken, the tributaries of Yamuna in Bundelkhand region of the state, Sai in central UP, Aami, a tributary of Rapti and Kuano in eastern UP.
But now after the widespread rains across the state for the last 10 days, all of them are flowing above the danger mark.
Irrigation department officials, who had been busy charting out a revival plan for all these rivers, have got a big relief.
“We did have a number of meetings with our central counterparts and officers of the department of water resources and River Development last year to find ways for the revival of a number of state rivers,” said a senior official of irrigation department.
In fact, the dearth of water has resulted in deposition of silt and sewage in the river bed. Moreover, encroachment in embankment areas by the farmers who have constructed drains to divert water from rivers directly to their fields had made the situation worse.
September brought relief to the drought-hit Bundelkhand and other rain deficient river basin regions leading to rise in the water level of the rivers.
Disaster response forces deployed
According to the disaster management department, six teams of the NDRF and two of the SDRF have rescued more than 10,000 people stranded in Patna where the water level was several feet deep.
These included 31 pregnant women and 361 patients who were rushed to hospitals.