The Uttar Pradesh government has issued directives for officials to stay vigilant in flood-prone areas across the state after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted heavy rains this month.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) teams have been deployed around the state’s highly sensitive and sensitive districts to ensure prompt and effective response to any emergencies.

Earlier the IMD has said that UP could witness above normal monsoon in July.

Principal Secretary of Revenue, P Guru Prasad, said here on Tuesday that according to the Chief Minister’s directives, all preparations to handle the flood situation have been completed. He mentioned that to deal with floods, the state has been divided into three parts including 24 districts in the highly sensitive category, 16 in sensitive and 35 in the general category. Teams have been formed and alerted for special monitoring in these districts.

He informed that in the highly sensitive and sensitive districts, 7 NDRF teams, 18 SDRF teams, and 17 PAC teams have been positioned in nearby areas to tackle the floods. These teams will coordinate with each other to carry out relief work as needed.

Relief Commissioner G S Naveen said that 7 NDRF teams have been deployed in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ballia, Bareilly, Aligarh, and Prayagraj. Similarly, 18 SDRF teams have been deployed in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Etawah, Saharanpur, Mathura, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Mirzapur.

Additionally, 17 PAC teams have been deployed in Sitapur, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Fatehpur, Agra, Azamgarh, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, Hamirpur, Ghaziabad, Etah, and Meerut.

The Relief Commissioner stated that in some of the districts, personnel from NDRF, SDRF, and PAC have been deployed to ensure that these teams can promptly reach and carry out relief work in the most affected areas.

The state has classified 24 districts as highly sensitive. These include Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Gorakhpur, Basti, Bahraich, Bijnor, Siddharthnagar, Ghazipur, Gonda, Ballia, Deoria, Sitapur, Balrampur, Ayodhya, Mau, Farrukhabad, Badaun, Ambedkarnagar, Shravasti, Azamgarh, Sant Kabir Nagar, Pilibhit, and Barabanki.

Additionally, 16 districts are categorized as sensitive. These are Saharanpur, Shamli, Aligarh, Bareilly, Hamirpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Rampur, Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, Moradabad, Hardoi, Varanasi, Unnao, Lucknow, Shahjahanpur, and Kasganj.