India, Aug. 6 -- Twenty villages of Patiala district have been put on high alert after the water level in the Ghaggar river reached the danger level on Wednesday afternoon after heavy rain for the past two days in Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

The district administration appealed to residents of the villages on the river's banks to move to safer places. The three sub divisions affected are Rajpura, Dudhan Sadhan and Patiala.

"We have sounded an alert in the low-lying areas along the Ghaggar river. We are keeping a close watch. The water level rose because of heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of the river," said Rajpura sub divisional magistrate (SDM) Avikesh Gupta.

According to the district drainage department, the water was fl...