Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday spent his 61st birthday among the flood-hit Nanodar and Gole villages in Banaaskantha and Patan districts with the affected people.
This is the 4th day of five-day camp of the Chief Minster in the flood-affected areas of North Gujarat region. Following the unprecedented heavy rain in the last week of July in the region, he had decided to camp in the worst-hit Banaskantha the following five days, away from the State capital, for better spot assessment of the problem and more effective supervision of relief operation. He is accompanied by Minister of State for Health Shankerbhai Choudhry and senior Government officers.
While Rupani started for Nanodar village bordering the Rann of Kutch in the morning, he saw a crowd of people midway near Gole village, stopped his convoy and got down to ensure the rescue and relief assistance reached them on time. They nodded in affirmative and thanked the Chief Minister for effective disaster management.
Talking to villagers he said that he is not an escapist to run away from the crisis to leave behind the sufferers in the lurch. The local legislators like Parbatbhai and Nagarjibhai, Ministers of State Shankerbhai Choudhry and Keshaji Chauhan are also on their toes, he said. He recalled that the compensation for loss of household goods due to floods has been increased from Rs 3,800 to Rs 7,000, and that for loss of milch cattle from Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per cattle, revising up the maximum number from three milch cattle to five.
The Chief Minister decided to pay the additional amount, over and above the norms of State Disaster Response Fund, would be given from the State Government’s budget. In the wake of Banaskantha district getting heavy rains for the past few years, he even mulled with an out-of-box idea of diverting the Rel River to the adjoining drier bordering Kutch district and the Rann of Kutch. He is considering handing over pre-feasibility survey to experts.