Central Team Formed to Assess Flood Damage in Gujarat

New Delhi : The Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) under the leadership of the Executive Director of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) to assess the damage caused by heavy rains and floods in Gujarat. The IMCT is expected to visit the flood-affected districts of Gujarat soon.

Between August 25 and 30, Gujarat was severely impacted by heavy to extremely heavy rainfall due to a deep depression over Rajasthan and Gujarat. The neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan also experienced similar weather conditions. This year, Himachal Pradesh has been affected by heavy rains, cloudbursts, and landslides. The Ministry of Home Affairs is in constant contact with senior officials in these states, and if significant damage is reported, an IMCT will be sent to those areas as well. Several other states have also been impacted by heavy rainfall, floods, cloudbursts, and landslides during the current monsoon season.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government is fully committed to providing all possible assistance to disaster-affected states. In a significant decision made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in August 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs now forms IMCTs to assess the damage on-site without waiting for a memorandum from the affected states. This year, the ministry has already dispatched IMCTs to assess the damage in flood and landslide-affected states such as Assam, Kerala, Mizoram, and Tripura without waiting for any formal requests. An IMCT has also been formed for Nagaland, which will soon visit the affected areas in the state. Previously, the IMCT would visit disaster-affected states only after receiving a memorandum from the state government.