Prayagraj: Water levels in both the Ganga and Yamuna continued to rise on Thursday due to upstream discharge and rainfall, although the increase remained gradual at monitoring points including Phaphamau, Chhatnag and Naini.District magistrate Manish Kumar Verma told TOI that: “Water level of both rivers is increasing at a slow pace, but we are maintaining a close watch. There was no crisis-like situation in the villages located near the riverbanks, but we have already sounded an alert and deployed the machinery.”He added that the district administration has made all preparations to shift people living in low lying areas if the water level rises.Apart from identifying and setting up flood relief camps, the administration is also communicating with people living in low lying areas and villages near riverbanks to stay vigilant. Teams of NDRF, SDRF and Jal police are ready as and when required.“All low-lying areas are under scanner and teams of officials are visiting the spots and reviewing the situation at regular intervals,” he said.District authorities after acknowledging that both rivers are flowing four to five meters below the danger mark, have taken an extensive exercise to identify relief camps in city, trans Ganga and trans Yamuna pockets of the district. Plans are afoot to set up around 103 relief camps including 12 in city and rest across the district in case of floods.On Thursday, the water level of Ganga at Phaphamau and Chhatnaag stood at 80.57m and 79.54m respectively while the level of river Yamuna at Naini stands 79.93m.The danger mark is 84.73m for the twin rivers.The level of both rivers rose by 23cm to 26cm in the past 24 hours.Officials of the flood control department, said: “When water level of Ganga will cross 82.10m mark, then flood water might be entering in low lying areas like Baghara, Chota Baghara and adjoining areas.”In the current scenario, the flood water released from different dams like Narora and Kanpur barrage is passing through Ganga after finding adequate space.
