Patiala, Aug. 7 -- Twenty villages of Patiala district were put on high alert after Ghaggar river's water level 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 subdivisions affected are Rajpura, Dudhan Sadhan and Patiala. The advisory to stay alert has been issued to the residents of Untsar, Nanheri, Sanjarpur, Lachhru, Kamalpur, Rampur, Saunta, Maru, Chamaru, Bhasmara, Jalahkheri, Hadana, Pur and Sirkapra villages in Patiala district, officials said. "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 subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Avikesh Gupta. Haryana is also on high alert after the India Meteorological Department issued a yellow alert in Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar districts. Ambala deputy commissioner Ajay Tomar said, "We have alerted the irrigation and revenue department and a close watch is being kept on the water levels in the Ghaggar river." According to the MeT department, Gurdaspur received 71.5 mm of rain during the 24-hour period till 8.30 am Wednesday. Other places in Punjab which received rain during this 24-hour period were Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Mohali, Pathankot, Rupnagar, Faridkot and Patiala....