New Delhi, Jul 8 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday spoke with the chief ministers of Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir to take stock of the situation arising from heavy rains there and assured them of all possible assistance from the Centre, officials said.
The home minister called Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, they said.
During the separate phone conversations, Shah assured them of all possible assistance from the Centre in dealing with the rain-related situation, they said.
Speaking to Satheesan, the home minister expressed satisfaction over the rescue and relief operations carried out by the Kerala government following the Wayanad tragedy, in which three people were killed after a rain-soaked mound of excavated earth collapsed at the site of a multi-crore tunnel project in Meppadi panchayat on Tuesday.
Shah also asked the chief minister to order a high-level inquiry into the incident.
Satheesan informed him that the state cabinet, which met earlier in the day, had already decided to conduct an inquiry.
Ten people were injured, and five remained missing in the incident, which has been described as a “man-made disaster”.
In Maharashtra, the capital Mumbai witnessed torrential rain on Wednesday, delaying local train services and causing inconvenience to office-goers. The city was battered by rain over the weekend and got a brief respite on Tuesday.
Long-distance train services towards Gujarat remained disrupted due to waterlogging on the Vasai-Virar section in neighbouring Palghar district and at several locations in south Gujarat.
Operations on the Mumbai-Pune route were also yet to be fully restored following landslides in the Bhor Ghat section on Monday.
According to civic officials, the Tulsi Lake, one of the seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to Mumbai, started overflowing late at night due to heavy rainfall in its catchment area.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast intermittent light to moderate rainfall in Mumbai and the suburbs during the day.
In neighbouring Gujarat, the southern part received “extremely heavy” rainfall on Tuesday, with the worst affected being Surat district, where five people died in rain-related incidents, while 2,100 people were shifted from flooded areas to safe locations, officials said.
Kamrej taluka in Surat recorded a whopping 305 mm rainfall in 10 hours ending 4 pm on Tuesday, they said. Schools and colleges in the Navsari district and Surat remained shut on Tuesday in view of the downpour.
“Extremely heavy rainfall occurred at isolated places in the districts of South Gujarat region, namely Surat, Valsad, Dadra & Nagar Haveli in the last 24 hours,” the IMD said in its midday state forecast on Tuesday.
Talking to reporters, M Nagarajan, Commissioner of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), had said around 2,100 people have been relocated from across different zones to safe shelters.
An official from the district disaster management office had said that a total of five deaths were reported in rain-related incidents over the past two days.
“Two deaths due to electrocution were reported today, while another person died in the Kamrej area. On Monday, two individuals died from electrocution in the Rander area of Surat,” the official had said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall struck the upper reaches of Thathri town in Doda district on Tuesday, partially damaging several houses, shops and vehicles.
It was the third such incident in the twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar this week, following heavy rainfall that has battered the mountainous region.
Officials said heavy rain in the upper reaches had triggered flash floods, bringing boulders, mud and debris into Thathri town.
The Doda-Kishtwar highway was also blocked at Thathri following the flash floods, disrupting vehicular movement in the region.
The incident came a day after heavy flash floods triggered by incessant rainfall damaged the Doda-Kishtwar highway near the under-construction 540 MW Kwar Hydroelectric Power Project.
