First Phase of relief operations in surat over

Surat, Aug 21 (UNI) The first phase of relief operations in flood-hit Surat is over and the second phase has begun today, state Urban Development Secretary and relief special officer S R Rao said.

''Surat is a city having an important role in the country and the state government is very serious about bringing it back to normalcy,'' Mr Rao said at a press conference here.

He said the need of the hour is multi-disciplinary approach to the calamity and various departments are co-ordinating to bring back the city bock on track.

Answering a question whether there was any differences of opinion between the district collector and the irrigation department about releasing water from Ukai dam, Mr Rao said the government has appointed a judicial inquiry committee to look into the matter.

Guruprasad Mahapatra, another special officer on duty in Surat said there were many differences between the flood of 1998 and the present one.

''At that time, only 7.5 lakh cusec water was released for some 13 hours but at present, upto 11 lakh cusec of water was released for 42 hours. In 1998 only four lakh people were affected but in the present flood around 12 lakh people have been hit,'' Mr Mahapatra said.

He also said the relief operations were a challenging work for the administration.

The press conference was also attended by Health Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and Municipal Commissioner Pankaj Joshi.

UNI MS PM AK BD2100