Saltpan Workers have Been Recalled!

Cyclone Phet: State on alert, six dead


Press Trust of India,Express News Service


Ahmedabad Temperature dipped across Gujarat on Wednesday as Cyclone Phet moved northwest in the Arabian Sea.
Alert has been sounded across all ports in Gujarat and fishermen and saltpan workers have been recalled.

Six people died of electrocution and lightning, while the concluding programme of the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar was cancelled and the Krishi Mahotsav programme was postponed by two days. In Jamnagar, one person drowned, while another was struck by lightning. Two persons in Rajkot and one in Surendranagar died of lightning. One death due to electrocution was reported in Vadu village of Mehsana district after an electricity pole fell on the victim.

According to the Met Department, the cyclone is expected to intensify further in the next 24 hours and move close to Oman and re-curve towards Pakistan and Kutch.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the measures at an emergency meeting, directing the district administration to be on the alert, even as the in-charge secretaries were asked to reach the coastal districts to assess the level of preparedness.

Control rooms from the taluka level onwards have been made operational, with instructions given to the health, state transport and energy departments to stay prepared for any emergency.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea and 'Distant Ports Warning 2' has been hoisted at all ports. “Eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the coastal districts along with five companies of the State Reserve Police (SRP),” said Relief Commissioner Poonam Chandra Parmar.

“Of the eight teams deployed by NDRF, two each are stationed at Rajkot, Kutch and Jamnagar and one each at Junagadh and Porbandar,” said Deputy Commandant S K Pradhan.




Lightning, rough sea claim two lives in Jamnagar

Jamnagar: Two persons died along the coastal area near Jamnagar on Wednesday due to lightning and turbulent sea even as the cyclone Phet stood stationary about 1,050 km off Gujarat coast, police said. In the first incident, one Laxman Tarsinhbhai (29) of Amra village was killed when lightning struck him.

While one Shabbir Jusab (35) drowned after being engulfed in the turbulent water of the Arabian sea near Gandhvi village. Meanwhile, the district administration today convened a meeting to discuss the preparedness of the authorities in the wake of Cyclone Phet.

— PTI