: Intermittent rain since Monday and Tuesday brought down several kutcha houses in parts of Kaushambi and Pratapgarh. A 55-year-old woman was killed after being trapped under the debris of her house in Kaushambi. At least eight people were injured in separate incidents in Pratapgarh.
In Kaushambi, the incident took place in Alwara village under the Mahewa Ghat police station area in the early hours of Tuesday. The house of daily-wage worker Lallu Lodhi collapsed amid incessant rain. His wife, Lakshmi Devi, 55, was trapped under the debris.
Hearing cries and the sound of the house collapsing, villagers rushed to the spot. They removed the debris after considerable effort. Police were informed and Mahewa Ghat station house officer Dhirendra Singh reached the spot with a team.
Ambulance took Lakshmi to the district hospital, where doctors declared her dead, Singh said. Police sent her body for postmortem examination. Lakshmi is survived by three sons and two daughters. The incident left the family distraught.
In Pratapgarh’s Lalganj tehsil, three kutcha houses collapsed in separate incidents, injuring seven people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old girl. Household belongings worth thousands of rupees were also buried under the debris.
At Chandapur, the kutcha houses of Virendra Vishwakarma and Dhirendra Vishwakarma collapsed during the rain late Monday night. Virendra, Naitik, Neetu, wife of Pankaj, Pooja, wife of Dhirendra, Sangeeta, wife of Virendra, and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl were injured after being trapped under a cement sheet.
Villagers rescued them and took them to hospital. Their condition was stated to be normal after treatment. Household articles were also damaged in the collapse.
At Chamrupur Shuklan, the kutcha house of Sitaram Saroj collapsed during the night, damaging household belongings. However, family members were sleeping outside in a thatched shelter at the time. No one was injured. At Padmakarpur, a wall of Munir Ahmad’s kutcha house collapsed around 6am on Tuesday, injuring his wife, Jaidulnisha. A goat tied nearby was also killed after being buried under the debris. Some household belongings were damaged.
Lalganj tehsildar Ravi Yadav said the administration was assessing the losses caused by the rain-related house collapses. “After the damage assessment, financial assistance available under government provisions will be provided to the affected families,” he said.
Two boys drown while bathing in swollen drain in Pratapgarh
PRAYAGRAJ : Two boys, aged 11 and 12, drowned while bathing in the swollen Tambura drain in Dafra village under Aspur Devsara police station area of Pratapgarh district on Tuesday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Anav Verma, 11, son of Pradeep Verma, and Vikram Verma, 12, son of Mool Narayan Verma. The two boys had gone to the drain around 11am with four other children to bathe. They were swept away by the strong current after heavy rain.
The drain originates near Saifabad, passes through Rajabazar and flows towards Jaunpur. The other children raised an alarm after seeing Anav and Vikram being swept away.
A youth who was grazing cattle nearby rushed to the spot. Local residents also reached the drain and pulled the two boys out of the water.
The boys were taken to the community health centre (CHC) in Amargarh, where doctors declared them dead. Their families later took them to CHC-Patti, where they were again declared dead. Police sent the bodies for postmortem examination.
The deaths left both families and the village in mourning. Anav was a class 5 student and the only brother of his sister, Ananya. His father runs a general store in Amargarh market. His death shortly before Raksha Bandhan left his parents and sister inconsolable. Vikram was the eldest of two brothers and a sister. His father runs a paan business in Prayagraj. The death of his eldest son left the family devastated.
