The Hindu : Front Page : Threat of fresh floods recedes in central Gujarat districts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

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Threat of fresh floods recedes in central Gujarat districts

Manas Dasgupta

Army evacuates people on the banks of rivers; Surat battles garbage

— Photo: AP

AWAITING THEIR TURN: Women and children stand in a queue to receive relief material distributed by an NGO in Surat, Gujarat, on Saturday.

SURAT: Even as the people of Surat are battling with heaps of garbage left behind by the receding floods, the threat of fresh floods in the four central Gujarat districts lifted on Saturday with reduction in the discharge of water from the Kadana and Vanakbori dams.

While parts of the worst-affected areas like Adajan and Randher continued to remain under two-ft deep water for the sixth day on Saturday, elsewhere in the city people were busy cleaning up.

Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel said in Gandhinagar that 65 died in Surat, though admitting that the toll could go up as more areas were cleaned. At least 18 bodies were recovered from the rubble of a four-storey building in Adajan which had collapsed under the impact of floods on Tuesday. Locals said about 200 people had taken shelter in the building when the flood waters started gushing in on Monday. About 125 had come out safely after the building collapsed. More bodies were feared trapped under the debris.

Four Army columns were pressed into service to evacuate people in the villages on the banks of the Mahi, Vatrak, Dhadhar, Sheri and other rivers in the Panchamahals, Vadodara, Kaira and Anand districts in the central region following heavy discharge of water from the Kadana and Vanakbori dams.

Mr. Patel said more than 70,000 people were evacuated from the affected villages while the Army personnel were still trying to rescue about 2,000 people marooned in the affected districts. At least 200 people were trapped on the rooftop of a temple in Dabka village in Vadodara district but so far even the Army could not reach them because of the strong currents in the Mahi river. Flood waters of Vatrak river entered Kaira and most parts of the town were under four to five feet of water.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi had an aerial survey of the threatened districts and saw for himself the agricultural fields under water. Mr. Patel claimed that but for the "precautionary steps'' taken by the State Government, the flash floods could have caused "unprecedented loss of lives and damage in central Gujarat.'' The Pradesh Congress accused the Chief Minister of "playing politics'' even with the misery of the people hit by floods. Leader of the Opposition Arjun Modhvadia criticised Mr. Modi's expression of "displeasure'' over the relief package announced by the Prime Minister on Friday. He also regretted Mr. Modi's refusal to permit the Opposition leaders to be present during the Government briefing to the Prime Minister.

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