Gandhinagar. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a high-level meeting in Gandhinagar on Monday to review the situation arising due to heavy rains in the state. Patel reached the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) on Monday afternoon and interacted with the collectors, municipal commissioners and district officials of the rain-affected districts through video conference and got a detailed information about the situation.
The Chief Minister especially instructed to take the people of low lying areas to safer places. He clearly told the District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners that our priority should be to prevent loss of human life and livestock. He said that when rainwater is overflowing on rivers, dams or roads, it is necessary to be cautious to not let anyone go there and if needed, it is necessary to stop people by taking strict measures with the help of police. He gave necessary instructions to the collectors in this regard.
He instructed to give priority to the rescue of people trapped in water. For this, he also got the details of the work of rescuing people and taking them to safe places with the help of NDRF, SDRF and local police.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister was informed that so far 17,827 people have been relocated and 1,653 people have been rescued in the state. 13 NDRF and 22 SDRF teams have been deployed in the affected districts, which are assisting in relief and rescue operations. The Chief Minister also received details about heavy and widespread rainfall in the state in the last 24 hours, according to which rainfall has been recorded in 244 tehsils of 33 districts in the entire state in the last 24 hours. During this period, 63.36 percent rainfall has been received in the state and the highest rainfall of 356 mm was recorded in Kher village of Navsari district. Apart from this; the highest rainfall of 157 mm was recorded in Morva Hadaf of Panchmahal district during 6 to 10 am on Monday. Thus; 91.88 percent of the season’s rainfall has been received in entire Gujarat this year.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also got information about the status of water in rivers and reservoirs due to rainfall in the state, according to which 59 out of 206 reservoirs of the state are 100 percent full, 72 reservoirs are on high alert and 22 reservoirs are on alert and overflow warning has been issued for 9 reservoirs. 7 rivers have overflowed. Apart from this; Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam, the lifeline of Gujarat, has 88.74 percent of its total storage capacity i.e. 2,96,459 million cubic feet (MCFT) of water stored.
Patel has directed the concerned administrators and senior officials to restore the impact of rain on electricity supply, road traffic or supply of essential commodities on a war footing. Due to rain, electricity supply was affected in 7009 villages across Gujarat, out of which power supply has been restored in 6,977 villages. Not only this; out of 6,090 electricity poles damaged by rain, 5,961 have been repaired.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also directed to take advance steps to control the possible epidemic as soon as the rain stops, by spraying insecticides, immediately starting the work of cleaning mud and soil and removing the debris of trees etc. lying on the roads to make the transport smooth soon. It was told in the meeting that a total of 523 roads are closed in Surat, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, Dang and Chhota Udaipur districts in the state recently. The Chief Minister also obtained information regarding the forecast of heavy rains in the state in the coming time by the Meteorological Department.
In the meeting, the officials of the Meteorological Department gave detailed information about the forecast of widespread and heavy rainfall in Gujarat for the next two-three days and the red alert issued. In view of the forecast of the Meteorological Department, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel directed the collectors of the districts there to remain alert in view of the possibility of heavy rainfall in Kutch and Saurashtra region.
Bhupendra Patel, during the video conference in the meeting, especially interacted with the collectors of the most affected districts including Navsari, Valsad, Dang, Panchmahal, Vadodara and Chhota Udaipur and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation Commissioner and thoroughly reviewed the inflow of water in the rivers in their districts, traffic regulation and the work of shifting the people of the low-lying areas to safer places.
He directed the concerned District Incharge Secretaries to immediately reach the district headquarters assigned to them to guide the local district administration in case of heavy rainfall. He guided the District Collectors of the state to remain alert with full preparedness and adopt a zero casualty approach. Gujarat Chief Secretary Raj Kumar, senior secretaries of state departments, NDRF and Meteorological Department officials were present in this meeting.
