Cyclone Biparjoy: Amit Shah Says No Casualty Reported In Gujarat, Electricity To Be Restored By June 20

Amit Shah said electricity has been restored in 1,600 villages out of the 3,400 villages where the power supply was cut. Around 1.08 lakh civilians were taken to safe places, he added.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah with CM Bhupendra Patel at a hospital in Gujarat.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that not even a single casualty was reported in Gujarat due to cyclone Biparjoy and the way the state government and Central agencies worked to protect lives is a classic example of teamwork. He was briefing the media on the aftermath of cyclone Biparjoy which made a landfall in Gujarat on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the minister conducted an aerial survey of the areas affected in the state due to the cyclone and also visited the government hospital to meet the affected people. He went to Mandvi to take stock of the situation.

"Around 47 people were injured due to cyclone Biparjoy, but none of them are severely injured. Around 234 animals died during the cyclone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ordered to make all arrangements before the landfall of the cyclone. PM himself had discussions with the state government and agencies regarding the preparedness," the Union Minister said.

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He further said electricity has been restored in 1,600 out of the 3,400 villages where the power supply was cut and in rest of the cyclone-hit areas, electricity will be restored by June 20. Around 1.08 lakh civilians were taken to safe places and around 73,000 animals were taken to safe spots, he further said.

While the cyclone weakened after making landfall on the Kutch coast of Gujarat on Thursday evening, the IMD said that north Gujarat should brace for heavy rainfall. There was no loss of life on account of cyclone Biparjoy (which means calamity in Bengali) in Gujarat, the government said. Advance planning and mass evacuation of over one lakh people helped the state achieve "zero casualty", Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was quoted as saying in a press release.

The NDRF team is conducting the clearance work across the state. As the cyclone weakened and moved towards south Rajasthan on Friday after ravaging the Kutch and Saurashtra regions, the Gujarat government faced the immediate challenge of restoring electricity in some 1,000 villages and clearing roads blocked by trees that were uprooted due to the storm.

Cyclone Biparjoy has now moved further towards Rajasthan resulting in heavy rainfall in several areas of the desert state for the past 24 hours, the news agency PTI reported officials as saying. Several areas in the state received more than 100 mm of rainfall. Mount Abu recorded a rainfall of 210 mm while it was 136 mm in Sedwa in Barmer, 135 mm in Mount Abu tehsil and 110 mm in Raniwada of Jalore.