By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to chief ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa and the lieutenant governor of Daman & Diu to take stock of the preparations to face cyclone Tauktae. The Prime Minister assured the chief ministers and the LG that the Centre will provide all assistance to deal with the situations arising out of the cyclone.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening called up Chief Minister Vijay Rupani over the phone and sought details of preparation by the state government to deal with cyclone Tauktae,” the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office said in a press release.The chief minister apprised the PM about the precautionary steps being taken by the state government to tackle the situation, it said.
Meanwhile, the armed forces on Monday pressed their personnel and platforms into action to mitigate not only the damage to life, but also to carry out search and rescue operations. Likely areas of high impact have been identified, sources said. The Navy mobilised its warships and aircraft on Monday in response to an SOS by an Indian-flagged Tug ‘Coromandel Supporter IX’, which was adrift northwest of Mangalore, Karnataka.
Rough seas, due to the cyclone caused the seawater to gush into the vessel’s machinery compartments, rendering it without propulsion and power supply.All the nine crew members have been rescued in a joint operation by the Navy and the Coast Guard. In a separate incident, amid heavy rains, 278 people got stranded on a barge adrift on Heera Oil Fields in Bombay High area. The Navy has rescued 38 of them.
Another operation was launched in response to an SOS received from ‘GAL Constructor’, another barge with 137 people on board, about 8 nautical miles from Mumbai. Warship INS Kolkata was rushed to the location. The Navy had kept its diving teams on standby for deployment in case of any requests from State authorities.
“Repair and rescue teams have been formed to undertake urgent infrastructural repairs post-cyclone if required,” Commander Madhwal said. “Various ships along the Western seaboard are standby with aid and relief material for immediate assistance to affected areas as required and to provide assistance to stranded fishing boats/ small boats.”
Railways doing intense patrolling for safety New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways has drawn up a slew of measures in the wake of Cyclone Tauktae. The ministry said the zonal and divisional control rooms are monitoring the situation and are constantly in touch with all railway stations in Southern Railway, South Western Railway, Konkan Railway, Central Railway and Western Railway. The railways has put Accident Relief Trains (ART), Medical Relief Vans (MRV) and tower wagons on high alert. An intensive patrolling of the vulnerable areas was being done and all important bridges were being monitored by the engineering teams
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