Flood toll reaches 85

Gandhinagar, Aug 10 (UNI) With nine more deaths in the Surat Civil Hospital in the last four days and three more in Vadodara district the flood death toll has gone up to 85.

The Gujarat government is seeking immediate assistance of 7,000 tonnes of foodgrains and 5,000 kilolitres of kerosene from the Centre to help in relief assistance, said State Urban Development Minister I K Jadeja.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Mr Jadeja, along with Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel, said still half of Surat is submerged in water.

''Our primary duty is to focus on supply of food and water and restart the electricity supply. Health is also of primary concern,'' he said.

Three water works at Amroli, Umarwada and Kadodara have begun pumping drinking water, said Mr Patel.

''Power has been restored to 2.15 lakh consumers. We are giving power on priority basis to hospitals, administrative buildings and other places (petrol and kerosene dealers and those supplying essential commodities) toward smooth flow of relief and rehabilitation, he said.

A special train, with 12 wagons, has been despatched from Ahmedabad to Surat carrying 3.75 tonnes of water and food materials.

Another train with six wagons would be leaving to Surat by this evening, the duo said.

Three lakh litres of milk from Sumul Dairy has also been rushed to the city in addition to 14 tankers of milk from Mehsana, Anand, Banaskantha, Mr Patel informed.

Disputing Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's announcement that Centre has sanctioned Rs 150 crore as assistance, Mr Patel said, ''Not a single rupee has been received by the state government.'' This was despite Mr Mukherjee was at the Harini airport in Vadodara today, he alleged.

The copter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) had flown 34 sorties air-dropping food and water in Rander, Adajan and Katargam areas, which are still submerged. With an improvement in the situation, only seven copters could fly as against the earlier 14. These sorties were flown from Bhavnagar and Daman airbases, Mr Patel said.

Eight additional army columns are also on their way to Surat today and would aid the 18 columns already there.

Over 1,000 medical teams have been sent to Surat including 42 water tankers. BSNL has also started working, Mr Jadeja said.

Since 1030 hrs today the inflow in Ukai dam is 5.68 lakh cusecs and the outflow was 5.5 lakh cusecs. The outflow from the dam will continue in the next 24 hours depending on the inflow of water from outside the state, Mr Patel informed.

Meanwhile, 32 residents of a building were rescued after it was tilted in the Surat City.

The overflowing Sabarmati river has flooded 12 villages in Tarapur taluka in Anand district, with the water-level reaching two feet above the ground.

The Sabarmati is one of the seven rivers which meet near Dholka and then proceeds ahead through the district. The villages that are flooded include Fatehpura, Galiyana, Rinza, Khada, Millrampura, Tesarvada, Dugari, Naboi, Motakalodara, Jaffargunj, Pachegam and Kasbra.

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