Deshmukh, who visited the low lying areas of the city on Monday morning, told reporters that the Army was assisting police and civic officials in rescue and relief operations in flood-affected districts of Buldana, Jalgaon, Nanded and Yavatmal.

Food packets and water bottles were being aerially dropped to marooned people, he added.

Meanwhile, 3 inter-city trains on the Central Railway route from Pune to Mumbai were cancelled, railway sources said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] on Monday talked to the Chief Ministers of flood-hit Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Orissa on telephone and assured them of the Centre's help for relief work.

''The Army has been kept on a standby for rescue and relief,'' Dr Singh told Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Narendra Modi [Images] and Naveen Pattnaik, an official press note said.