india

Updated: Sep 16, 2019 06:22 IST

Floodwaters have marooned at least 252 students and teachers at a school at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district since Saturday even as the army was called to rescue people stranded in flooded areas of the state’s Kota and Jhalawar on Sunday.

“Students of Adarsh Vidya Mandir school are stranded because of an overflowing rivulet that separates the Rawatbhata town from the school,” said Rawatbhata sub-division magistrate Ramswaroop Gurjar.

He said the school administration was alerted about incessant rains and asked to suspend the classes. But the school did not follow the order, Gurjar said. He added a police team has managed to reach the school. “There is an alternative route to reach Rawatbhata, but it is 100km long and risky in monsoon. So we are waiting for the floodwaters to recede,” Gurjar said.

Heavy rainfall has flooded swathes of the state in Kota, Jhalawar, Baran and Bundi districts. It forced the release of excess water from the Kota barrage and flooded low-lying areas along the banks of the Chambal, officials said.

Authorities in Kota and Jhalawar on Sunday sought the army’s help to deal with the situation. “Flood relief columns of the [Jaipur-based] Sapta Shakti Command were called upon by the state administration for rescue operation in the heavily-flooded areas of Kota and Jhalawar,” the army said in a press release.