Army called in Surat

Ahmedabad, Aug 7 (UNI) The Army has been deployed in Surat by the Gujarat government.

This was announced here today by Revenue Department Director (Relief Operations) D A Satya.

He said that two platoons of the army have already reached Surat and three were on its way.

Besides, four Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters too have been requisitioned by the state government and two are already in action.

Two copters are arriving at Vadodara from the Jodhpur airbase, he informed, adding that besides this, 70 boats had been put into action in the city for evacuation.

''At present, we are releasing eight lakh cusecs of excess water from the Ukkai dam since 1500 hrs and this became necessary as there was an influx of 12 lakh cusecs of water from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra owing to heavy rains there,'' Mr Satya said.

''So far 25,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas. We expect to shift another 25,000 people by 1900 hrs,'' he added.

With the release of eight lakh cusecs of water, 30 villages of Dhovasi taluka risk flooding. Besides 11 villages in the city too risk flooding, Mr Satya said.

Besides the armed forces, SRP jawans too have been pressed into service to help the marooned people.

''Releasing of water will mainly affect four districts viz Navsari, Bharuch, Surat and Vadodara,'' he said.

All the city's low-lying areas from Rander to Adajan too would be flooded, he said.

Terming the unusaul influx of water due to part of the depression in Orissa and other parts, he said this problem of releasing eight lakh cusecs of water became unavoidable.

He also said that on the National Highway No 8 vehicular traffic may be stopped, if necessary and advised the people not to venture on it unless it is ''very'' necessary. He, however, said the rail traffic was normal.

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