Heavy rainfall on Wednesday afternoon caused flooding in parts of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha building, where the state assembly's Monsoon session is currently underway. An intense two-hour downpour led to extensive waterlogging around the Vidhan Bhavan, and affected several areas of the state capital, Lucknow.
Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha building's main entrance, used by MLAs, was inundated, and water also accumulated in the corridor and some ground-floor rooms. Staff members worked to clear the water with buckets and mops.
Visuals shared on social media show the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha building staff using buckets and mops to clear away the water.
The flooding prompted sharp criticism from the Opposition. Samajwadi Party general secretary and MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav shared a video of the inundated Vidhan Sabha on X, remarking, “If this is the condition after a single heavy rain, then the rest of the state is at the mercy of God.”
Despite the flooding, the chambers where the state legislative assembly and legislative council conduct their sessions remained unaffected. Hazratganj Chowk, a key area in Lucknow, was also impacted by the flooding.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an Orange alert for several districts in Uttar Pradesh till July 1. The districts include Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh, Mathura, Hathrash, Agra, Firozabad, Bijnaur, Muradabad.
“Isolated very heavy rainfall also likely over Uttarakhand during 31st July-03rd August; Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh on 31st July & 01st August; northeast Rajasthan on 31st July.” the IMD statement reads.
On Tuesday, the CM Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Preadesh government allocated over ₹175 crores from the State Disaster Relief Fund, based on district requests.
Of this amount, ₹120 crores had already been released for relief work, including assistance for flood-affected individuals, families, and agricultural grants. Recently, an additional ₹36 crores has been disbursed, with the largest portion of ₹30 crores going to Lakhimpur Kheri.
