PUNE/NEW DELHI, 31 July 2006 — The civil administration in Maharashtra has called for army help as several thousands of people evacuated their towns and villages due to floods caused by heavy rains in the Western Maharashtra and Konkan region. Meanwhile, 12 people died in the past three days in Gujarat due to monsoon rains.

Five military columns were deployed yesterday in the flood-affected areas of Pune division that include Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur. Looking into the gravity of the situation, two more columns have also been summoned. “The situation in the five districts is being monitored closely. With the unrelenting rains, the water discharges from the dams have increased. This is forcing a flood like situation in most of districts,” said Divisional Commissioner Prabhakar Karandikar.

He added that military help was being sought as a precautionary measure and that more columns would be requested as and when required. He added that although the situation is serious the authorities do not see the need to call in for air force aid.

Karandikar stated that evacuation work has started in Patan and Pandarpur in the Solapur district, as water from the Ujani and Koyna dams were released. He explained that six gates from the Koyna dam were raised up to 18 feet and that 100,800 cusecs of water were discharged. The commissioner said that this has created a flood like situation in Patan, Karad and some other neighboring areas.

To mitigate the intensity of floods, State Chief Secretary D.K. Shankaran informed Arab News that the authorities of Alamatti had agreed to release 150,000 cusecs of water. “Extending a helping hand this time, the Almatti authorities have decided to release the water from their dam as requested. It will help us in reducing the intensity of the floods in Western Maharashtra,” Shankaran said.

In Pune, the story of floods was no different compared to other districts. Hundreds of people were evacuated from low-lying areas in the city and neighboring Pimpri-Chinchwad following flooding in the wake of heavy rains. Nearly 900 houses in Shanti Nagar and Adarsh Indira Nagar were flooded. Water gushed into apartments and bungalows in the vicinity of Sinhagad Road.

At least 343 people have died across India since the onset of the monsoon in June. More than 25,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas in south and central Gujarat. Rail services across western India suffered after rail tracks in some areas were submerged under water. Railway authorities in Bombay, the capital of the Maharashtra state, said some trains were delayed, while others were canceled. On Saturday, at least 19 people were killed, mostly when their houses collapsed under a torrent of rain that lashed northern India, police said.

“At least 19 more people were killed when houses collapsed or in lightning strikes over the last 48 hours,” Surendra Srivastava, a police spokesman in Lucknow, the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state, said yesterday.

A top state official in Lucknow said people living in houses at risk of collapsing had been asked to leave their homes and move to safer public buildings as a temporary measure.