Centre gives Rs 150 cr as interim relief to Gujarat: Pranab

Ahmedabad, Aug 10 (UNI) The Centre today announced an assistance of Rs 150 crores as an interim relief to Gujarat ollowing massive floods in Surat and other parts of the state.

Declaring this to mediapersons at the Harini international airport in Vadodara, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Rs 150 crore aid was based on the initial damage report received by the Centre. ''After the final assessment the scope of the aid would be revised,'' he said.

Mr Mukherjee said till now several areas of Surat are water-logged and it would take some time for the situation to normalise. Twenty-four mechanised boats have been despached to Surat city for evacuating stranded people, he added.

He said, the state machinery should not have released the mass quantity of waters from Ukai dam, which marooned Surat city and surrounding areas causing mass destruction of property and trouble to several lakhs of people.

The Defence Minister was talking after making an aerial survey of Surat and surrounding areas along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel.

Ms Gandhi later returned to Delhi, while Mr Mukherjee and Mr Patel, along with Union Textile Minister Shankarsingh Vaghela, took stock of the situation during a meeting with state government officials.

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