511 villages in Nagpur Division are flood-prone

(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on June 5, 2013)

511 villages in Nagpur Division are flood-prone

* Around half of these villages are in Nagpur district alone
* 30 tehsils in the division report more deaths in lightning strikes

Staff Reporter
With the pre-monsoon showers dropping enough hint of monsoon coming soon, the administration has stepped up its initiatives for better disaster preparedness. In a recently held review of situation in Nagpur Division, it came to fore that as many as 511 villages in six districts of the division are flood-prone. The review also revealed that 30 tehsils in the division saw more number of deaths due to lightning strikes.
Of these 521 villages, maximum 228 are in Nagpur district alone. The district has seven main rivers namely Wardha, Wainganga, Kanhan, Vena, Pench, Nand, and Jami. A senior officer in the administration said that rise in population had created a tricky situation for all. The new poor families prefer to construct huts or kachcha houses on the banks of rivers. At many places, number of huts increased to such an extent that people started encroaching into river-beds. As a result, when rivers swell during monsoon, these houses or settlements are marooned. This is a regular feature every year.
“Efforts of the Government to evict these encroachers are foiled due to political resistance. In the process, disaster-proneness of such areas remains a cause of concern for administration,” said an officer. He pointed out that there were other places where villages were classified as flood-prone as roads to these villages got submerged during monsoon. There were several villages located close to major rivers in Nagpur Division, and they always faced problems due to flood situation during monsoon. “The Government is working on it. In the past, some villages with frequent flooding were relocated,” he added.
After Nagpur, Gondia district has the highest number of flood-prone villages in the division. Gondia has 142 such villages. It is followed by Gadchiroli with 87 villages, Bhandara with 35, Wardha with 11, and Chandrapur with eight such villages. Interestingly, Gadchiroli has the highest number of major rivers -- eight -- namely Wainganga, Wardha, Pranhita, Godavari, Indravati, Pathani, Khobragadi, Pamulgautam. Like Nagpur, Wardha district has seven rivers namely Wardha, Badhadi, Bor, Yashoda, Dham, Pothra, and Bakdi. Bhandara, Gondia, and Chandrapur have six rivers each. Wainganga passes from all the districts in Nagpur Division except Wardha.
Apart from flood-prone villages, the administration also reviewed number of lightning strikes in the division. It came to fore that 30 tehsils in six districts of the division saw more deaths due to lightning strikes. Maximum seven tehsils -- Brahmapuri, Korpana, Nagbhid, Chimur, Rajura, Mul, and Pombhurna -- were from Chandrapur district. The district-wise list of such tehsils is as follows: Nagpur-- Katol, Saoner, Umred, Kuhi, Mouda, Bhiwapur; Wardha-- Arvi, Ashti, Karanja, Hinganghat, Samudrapur; Bhandara-- Tumsar, Bhandara, Sakoli; Gondia-- Gondia, Tiroda, Deori; Gadchiroli-- Kurkheda, Armori, Etapalli, Mulchera, Aheri, and Sironcha.

Flood-prone villages in Nagpur Division
-----------------------------------------------
District         No of villages
-----------------------------------------------
Nagpur               228
Gondia               142
Gadchiroli           87
Bhandara            35
Wardha               11
Chandrapur        08
-----------------------------------------------
Total                  511
-----------------------------------------------