Bharuch:
The receding levels in Narmada river on Monday brought in some good news for the residents of Bharuch who have been facing a flood-like situation for the last few days.
With water released from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh about three days back, the Sardar Sarovar Dam started overflowing. The result: about 30 villages in Bharuch were inundated and over 5000 people from low lying villages shifted to relief camps.
Though the Narmda river levels have begun to recede, it will take some days before villagers can go back to their homes.
Till then they are made to live in makeshift camps, where government and voluntary organisations are providing them relief supplies.
"We are trying to provide food packets and other relief material till they are in a position to go back,'' said, Narayan Patel, Taluka Panchayat president.
But for small farmer Ravji Ratilal of Moti Kanshi village near Ankleshwar, there is a bigger concern on his mind. His five bigha land on which he used to cultivate banana is under water. The entire produce is now gone and what's left is his field submerged in water. His loss is estimated to be around 50,000 which he had used to dress up and sow the crop. Mr Ratilal stares at a dark future.
"Have spent almost spent Rs 50,000 on the crop but this flood has snatched whatever earnings I had saved,'' lamented Mr Ratilal.
While in the rural areas, the poor farmers stare at a destruction of their crops and here in the city centres, people in the residential societies are struggling to move out for basis sustenance.
Some residential societies in Ankleshwar are still with knee deep waters and the district administration has deployed National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams to send in relief material to them. But it will still take a few days before normalcy returns to these affected areas.