Ahmedabad: The Independence Day on Tuesday was celebrated in Gujarat on a subdued note under the shadow of the recent floods in Surat and other parts of the State.

Under Chief Minister Narendra Modi's rotational system of celebrating the Independence and the Republic Days at various district headquarters, the official flag hoisting ceremony was fixed at the tribal-dominated Dahod district. Mr. Modi hoisted the tricolour and took the salute at a simple function in the district.

All other official functions, including At Home hosted by Chief Minister, as well as Governor Naval Kishore Sharma, were cancelled in view of the floods. At the district level, the flags were hoisted by senior government officials instead of Ministers who were busy with flood relief operations.

The State Government cancelled the Independence Day holiday and Wednesday's Janmashtami holiday for senior officials and staff of the departments engaged in relief work.

Both Mr. Modi at Dahod, and Mr. Sharma, who hoisted the flag at Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar, hoped that Gujarat would successfully come out of the problems posed by raging floods and return on the development path soon.

The people in central Gujarat districts of the Panchmahals, Baroda, Kheda and Anand are living under the threat of another flash flood in the Mahi river following heavy discharge of water from the Kadana and Vamakbori dams.

A Government spokesman said high alert had been issued to the people of about 200 villages on the banks of the Mahi in four districts.

People living in other affected areas had also been told to remain prepared for evacuation in case the discharge increases if the rains continue in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The spokesman said the discharge from Kadana dam was at five lakh cusecs a day on Tuesday evening which might be increased to over seven lakh cusecs or more later in the night.

A warning had also been issued to the people in Narmada and Bharuch districts.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail