New Delhi: The central government on Tuesday said it will provide assistance to state governments of Cyclone Ockhi-affected Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in dealing with the situation.
Union health minister J. P. Nadda spoke to Shankar Chaudhary and C. Vijayabaskar, health ministers of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu respectively, and assured them of all the support from the Centre for combating the ongoing Cyclone Ockhi.
“Health ministry is geared up with all the necessary resources and a team of doctors has been put on standby for the cyclone affected areas to extend all necessary supports to strengthen their efforts towards disaster management in the states,”Nadda stated.
“I have spoken to Health Ministers of TamilNadu (sic) and Gujarat regarding #CycloneOckhi , and have assured them that all support will be extended by the Centre, in terms of medicines and medical teams,” Nadda tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that he is constantly monitoring the situation in various states arising out of Cyclone Ockhi battering parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep islands and now heading towards Gujarat. “Spoke to all relevant authorities and officials. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath called on the prime minister in New Delhi and handed over a cheque of Rs5 crore for the cyclone-affected people in Lakshadweep and other states, an official statement said.
As per the latest bulletin of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclone was expected to hit the coastline near Surat by midnight Monday. “It is very likely to continue to move north-northwestwards, weaken gradually and cross south Gujarat and adjoining Maharashtra coasts near Surat as a deep depression by the night of December 5,” it said.
The IMD has forecast light to moderate rainfall in most places with heavy rainfall at isolated places in Saurashtra and south Gujarat. The met department has warned that when the cyclone hits the Gujarat coast, “wind speed would remain between 50 and 60 kmph and may reach up to 70 kmph in south Gujarat.”