New Delhi, July 2
The Army and the Air Force have come out in full strength to assist the civil administrations in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and have rescued more than 600 persons in the two states where the flood situation continues to be grim.
The Air Force today reinforced its effort in the flood -hit areas of Gujarat by despatching four more MI-17 helicopters from the Sarsawa and Hindon airbases. Twelve MI-17s are already deployed in Gujarat.
The Army has deployed nine columns at Vadodara, Anand, Khera and Rajkot. Twelve boats have been deployed in South Gujarat. Another 21 boats have been airlifted by the IAF to Ahmedabad.
Another 34 boats would be airlifted from Bangalore and Pune for deployment in Vadodara and Ahmedabad, taking the total to 93 boats.
The IAF also airlifted 20 tonnes of bleaching powder from Chennai, to be used for sanitation. The IAF continues to drop food packets in Gujarat. It has air-dropped more than 14 tonnes of food packets in Gujarat.
In Himachal Pradesh, with a partial improvement in the flood situation, relief and rescue operations are now being carried out by one MI-17 and two Cheetah helicopters. The Cheetahs are evacuating persons from NAKO and the MI-17s from Rampur.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been monitoring the situation even while on tour to the United States since the onset of the flood crisis. Senior officials of the Defence Ministry are keeping a round-the-clock vigil over the situation and instructions have been given to rush relief material and rescue teams as and when required.
