500 stranded workers rescued from illegal farmhouses amidst Noida floods

Government officials said that the workers and staffers of the farmhouses which were built illegally near Nagli Wajidpur village in Sector 135 were not moved to safety in time even though the advisories were issued before the flood in low-lying areas.

Noida: As torrential rain caused widespread flooding along Yamuna banks in Noida this week, a group of approximately 500 people who were hired as workers and staffers for the farmhouses built illegally in the low-lying areas near the river, were not moved to safety in time even as advisories were issued well before the area got flooded, said Government officials. These farmhouses are located near Nagli Wajidpur village in Sector 135 some two kms off the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.

"More than 500 such people were evacuated on Thursday and Friday from the farmhouses. As water entered the ground level, many of those stranded, including women, had taken shelter on the second storey of the farmhouses. They carried some food and water with them which had started to run out," an officer engaged in rescue and relief measures told PTI.

Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force(NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force(SDRF), the Provincial Armed Constabulary, the Noida Police, the Fire Brigade, the Noida Authority and local village residents were engaged in rescue operations, the officer added. Many of these stranded people were discovered on Thursday when top police officers and administration officials took a boat ride deep into the flooded areas.

According to Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari, most of the structures in the floodplains are illegally constructed, and more than 250 farmhouses were demolished in anti-encroachment drives in the recent past. A survey estimated the presence of around 500-600 more such illegal structures against which action would be ensured in the coming days, she added during an inspection on Friday.

"550 hectares of land in Gautam Buddh Nagar got submerged in water due to the floods. People in the Jewar area of Greater Noida along Yamuna and those settled along Hindon are also impacted due to the floods but most affected were those in Noida", said District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma. "Advisories were being issued to the people inhabiting the low-lying regions here for the past 10 days when heavy rainfall started in the region and water level in the rivers rose. Despite this many stayed back and did not move to safety in time," Verma added.

Kaushalya, around 50, said she worked at a farmhouse but was left behind with no help until a team of rescuers brought her and her husband back to safety Friday evening. "I and my husband were stuck in the farmhouse. We both feel safe now and are thankful to those who saved us," Kaushalya told PTI as she alighted from a boat on a partially submerged road leading to the string of farmhouses.

At the embankment, some of the rescued people now live in temporary structures with tarpaulin as a roof to shelter them. One of them, Shiv Pal, around 45, said he was working at a farmhouse with his wife and moved out just in time on Thursday. "We live here and work to make some money because we have two daughters who are to be married. The daughters live back home in Shahjahanpur," Shiv Pal's wife said, as the couple waited to return to work in the farmhouse once the water subsided.

Altogether, by Friday evening, 7,210 people were impacted by the floods as overflowing Yamuna inundated around 550 hectares of low-lying land along its banks in Noida and Greater Noida. Of the impacted people, 3,610 have been displaced and moved to shelter homes where arrangements for their stay, food, water and medications were done. As many as 5,974 animals, including cattle, dogs, rabbits, ducks, roosters, and guinea pigs, have also been moved out of the waterlogged areas to safety since Thursday, according to official figures. (PTI)