Uddhav Thackeray canceled trip to flood-affected areas

Maharashtra, July 27: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday had to cancel his trip to flood-affected Satara district due to bad weather, the district administration said.

“The chief minister was supposed to conduct an aerial survey of villages like Ambeghar and Mirgaon where the landslides occurred. He was also supposed to meet and interact with flood-affected villagers in relief camp in Koynanagar. However, due to extremely bad weather, his helicopter could not land in Koynanagar and returned to Pune airport,” the district administration said.

Officials said the visit has been cancelled and CM will visit the area when the weather condition improves in a day or two. “Currently, it is raining continuously in the area,” officials added.

The CMO tweeted, “CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray was on his way to visit the flood-affected areas of Satara district. However, his helicopter was unable to land at the Koyna helipad due to low visibility. It has hence returned to Pune Airport.”

Due to torrential rain, Satara district has registered 41 deaths, many of them due to landslides in four villages, in the past few days. Ambeghar village in Patan taluka is the worst-hit among them. The NDRF had to be roped in to retrieve the bodies buried in the debris and slush.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is touring the flood-affected districts of Kolhapur and Sangli where nearly three lakh people have been shifted to safer places following heavy rain and rise in levels of rivers like Krishna, Panchganga and Warna.

The discharge from Koyna dam in Satara district, which has gone beyond 50,000 cusecs of water, caused the river levels to rise. However, the dam discharge has now come down to 30,000 cusecs after the rain stopped for a while.

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