Gandhinagar, 27 September 2013

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today took stock of the overall rescue and relief operations for damage control on war footing in the aftermath of widespread heavy rains and flood since September 21, 2013 in most parts of the state.

Presiding over a high-level review meeting here, Mr. Modi hailed the disaster management authority for alerting district administration on time to take emergent preemptive steps, immediately after receiving warning about likely heavy rains in different parts of the state.

It was decided at the meeting to send a memorandum to the Union Government for Central assistance for rescue and relief operations.

Gujarat received an average rainfall of 244 mm in seven days, resulting in rise in of water reservoirs from 13 to 23 percent in Kutch, from 23 to 45 percent in Saurashtra, with overflowing in 88 out of 135 dams in the region. The rise in underground water table should mitigate water shortage in this region.

The Chief Minister called for greater involvement and participation of the people, as part of the state’s long-term strategy, for maximizing use of the disaster management machinery to make the disaster management system more effective. The suggested steps include periodic checking of lifeboats, swimmers, fire brigade and other modern equipment.

Mr. Modi asked the authorities concerned to establish more foolproof inbuilt systems to monitor and check inflow and outflow of rainwater at dams and reservoirs. He called for increasing the capacity of reservoirs on Tapi and Vishwamitra rivers for Surat and Vadodara respectively.

He directed the administration to take up preventive steps for hygiene and cleanliness to check outbreak of monsoon-related diseases by urban, rural and local-government organizations, in all seriousness.

Total people evacuated

Surat – 33581
Tapi – 297
Bharuch – 24826
Vadodara – 32152
Narmada – 1337
Rajkot – 2595
Navsari – 10213
In total – 1,10,000