Rains: Over 8,000 evacuated in Maharashtra's Solapur district

Over 8,000 people from Pandharpur tehsil in western Maharashtra's Solapur district have been shifted to safer places following heavy rains, an official said on Thursday. district is witnessing heavy showers for last two days.

"Excess water is being released from Ujani Dam into Nira and Bhima rivers, so as a precaution, around 8,400 people living along river banks in Pandharpur tehsil have been shifted to safer places," said Sachin Dhole, Sub Divisional Officer.

As water is being released from dam at 2.3 lakh cusecs, vills along Bhima have been put on alert, he said.

In Pandharpur town, some 1,650 people were shifted to schools and buildings of religious institutions and are being provided food, Dhole said.

Several ros leing to temple town were flooded and closed for traffic for some time, he ded.

ditional teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sought for tehsil, he informed.

NDRF personnel were also deployed in a few vills in Mohol tehsil to evacuate people stranded in floodwaters.

"Around 50 people who were stranded in remote areas of Ghatni and Kharkhatne vills have so far been evacuated with help of an NDRF team," a district official said.

On Wednesday, six people were killed when a wall collapsed in Pandharpur town.

State Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday ordered a probe into incident, saying a case of culpable homicide be registered against those responsible. 

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