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Cyclone toll in Gujarat crosses 560, expected to rise

With the death-toll in Gujarat cyclone crossing 560 and threatening to shoot up further, the state government has stepped up relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Confusion continued to prevail on Thursday about the possible number of deaths. While state officials put the figure at 560 in Gujarat and six in Rajasthan, other quarters, including social workers and voluntary organisations, claimed nearly ten times that number had perished. The confusion was further compounded with many newspapers quoting four-digit tolls and charging the state government with apathy, maladministration and lack of preparedness.

One hundred and four people are still missing.

Union Home Minister L K Advani, who visited the affected areas of the worst-hit Kutch district, including the ravaged Kandla Port township, described the situation as "heart-rending." The cyclone, he said, had thrown up an "unprecedented calamity in Gujarat."

Asked why the government had not taken precautionary measures despite warnings from the meteorological department, Advani said perhaps even the weather officials had not realised the full potential of the storm.

Advani's statement, at a crowded press conference in Ahmedabad, that the state government had "done well" in handling the crisis angered social workers, who virtually forced him to come with them to witness the large number of unattended bodies lying around.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, too, visited some of the areas. Her visit to Jamnagar, however, had to be put off due to a technical snag in her aircraft.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya admitted there was ''lack of advance information'' about the cyclone. The government had made preparations as per the weather office's warning about the storm possibly hitting the Saurashtra coastal regions -- but the areas most affected turned out to be Jamnagar and Kutch districts.

Officials said nearly 65 relief camps have been set up for the 30,000-odd people moved from dangerous areas. Of these, as many as 56 camps have been opened in Jamnagar district alone, where nearly 25,000 people are staying. In Kutch, six camps catered to the three thousand displaced people; in Junagadh there were two such camps.

Reports from Rajkot, quoting a road transport spokesman, said all highways linking the cyclone-hit coastal towns have been repaired and opened to general traffic since last night. Links to towns like Veraval, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Dwarka, Okha, Kandla and Bhuj were opened on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, many parts of the affected districts continued to be in darkness. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress had a tough time gearing up for the visits of their leaders to the affected areas.

Reports from the devastated districts stated that besides the power-cut, the areas were facing a drinking water crisis. Rajkot, the nerve centre of Kutch and Saurashtra was now preparing to supply water to the affected areas by tankers.

Trees, hoardings, transmission towers, electricity and telephone poles, power cables, high and low tension lines and destroyed transformers are still threatening human lives as they lie strewn in the darkness, reports said.

The administration has despatched nearly 300 survey teams to different areas in 32 talukas to estimate the huge losses, which has already crossed Rs 12 billion.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan cyclone relief secretary V S Singh said a relief of Rs 20,000 has been sanctioned to the next of kin of each of the deceased, and Rs 5,000 to each injured.

He denied reports that put the death toll at nine, saying only six people have died in cyclone-related mishaps in the state.

Singh said officials are conducting extensive surveys in the worst-hit areas of Barmer and Jalore, and parts of Jodhpur district.

UNI

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