As the flood waters entered into the barracks of the Ballia district jail of Uttar Pradesh, the authorities are planning to shift over 900 prisoners to other jails or any safe place. The Jail premise is located near the River Ganga in Ballia.
Officials revealed that at
least four Deputy Superintendents of Police, 20 SHOs, 80 sub inspectors, 146
head constables and 380 constables have been deployed to ensure safe shifting
of the inmates.
The District Magistrate,
Bhawani Singh Khangaraut, while talking to the media said, it was decided to
ensure safety and good health to the inmates.
Noticeably as of now the flood
and downpour have claimed 42 lives in 4 states. There is heavy water logging in
jail premises as of now, the district magistrate said, adding low-lying areas
have been specially affected.
Of the 900 prisoners, 500 are
being shifted to Azamgarh Jail and remaining to Ambedkarnagar, Additional
District Magistrate, Ballia, Ram Asrey said.
The ADM said the jail is near
the River Ganga which has been in spate and it is not possible to pump out
water as large areas have water.
Another senior official said all barracks are submerged in about three feet water. ASP Sanjay Yadav said, "All the barracks have almost three feet water while the place where the inmates sleep has about one feet water. The sewer and drains are also overflowing”.
As per the report, there are
almost 863 inmates in the district jail of which 500, including 44 women, are
being shifted to Azamgarh jail and others to Ambedkarnagar jail. SDM Dushyant
Kumar Maurya said, “Rains have severely hit life in Baria tehsil area where an
ashram in Keharpur village has been submerged while a population of one lakh in
about 15 villages is totally affected, A release from the North-Eastern Railway
said traffic on the Ballia-Chappra route has been hit after tracks were damaged
and repair work was on in full swing”. “The rail tracks were damaged early on
Sunday morning and the repair work is going on in full swing”., said PRO,
Mahesh Gupta, said.