MHA constitutes central team to assess damage caused by floods in Gujarat

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted an inter-ministerial team to assess the damage caused by rainfall and floods in Gujarat.

The team will shortly visit the flood-affected districts of Gujarat, which was hit by heavy to extremely heavy rainfall between August 25 and 30 caused by a deep depression formed over Rajasthan and Gujarat, according to an official statement.

At least 25 people have died in rain-related incidents across the state on August 26 and 27.

The statement said the MHA has constituted an inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) led by the executive director, the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), to assess the damage caused by rainfall and floods in Gujarat, the statement said.

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were also affected by heavy to very heavy rainfall. Multiple spells of heavy rains, cloudbursts and landslides have caused extensive damage in Himachal Pradesh this year.

The MHA is in touch with senior officers of these states, and will depute IMCT there as well, if the severe damages are reported by them, the statement said.

During this monsoon, some other states have been affected by heavy rainfall, floods, cloudbursts and landslides.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government is fully committed to providing all possible help to affected states, the statement said.

As per the decision taken by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in August 2019, the MHA, this year, constituted IMCTs which have visited flood and landslides-affected states of Assam, Kerala, Mizoram, and Tripura in advance for on-spot assessment of the damage without waiting for their memorandum.

The IMCT for Nagaland has also been constituted, which will visit the affected areas of the state shortly.

In the past, the IMCT used to visit the disaster-affected states only after the receipt of a memorandum from the state government, the statement said.