News of the Day Many States reel under monsoon fury, 70 dead

The depression that has caused torrential rainfall mainly in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, claiming at least 70 lives and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, is expected to abate from Saturday, the chief of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

“Except for Rajasthan, there will be a marked reduction in rain from tomorrow [Saturday]. While these are extremely heavy rains, they are nowhere close to record rainfall that these States have witnessed in the past,” M. Mohapatra, Director-General, IMD, told The Hindu.

Extremely heavy rains battered the western coastal States and many parts of the Western Ghats on Thursday night, killing 28 persons in central and northern districts of Kerala and prompting the evacuation of nearly 65,000 people.

Rescue under way

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday that at Kavalappara near Nilambur in Malappuram district, rescue workers were struggling to trace at least 40 people feared trapped in a massive landslip. “Three bodies have been recovered,” he said after a review meeting.

The bodies of nine people were recovered from Meppadi, Wayanad district, the site of a second landslip. “It is not yet clear how many people were affected… Rescue operations using excavators are in progress. Eleven deaths have been reported in Wayanad district so far,” Mr. Vijayan said.

As of Friday, 64,103 people had been shifted to 738 camps in the flood-hit districts. Thirteen dams — seven maintained by the Kerala State Electricity Board and six by the Water Resources Department — were opened. Twelve teams of the NDRF were deployed and Army units rushed to Idukki and Malappuram, he said.

The IMD has issued red alerts in seven districts — Ernakulam, Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur — for Saturday.

In Karnataka, mudslides and flash floods in Kodagu district resulted in seven deaths in 24 hours, and eight people were reported missing. There was one rain-related death in Mysuru district. Rain intensified in the southern districts on Friday but abated in north Karnataka districts.

Across Karnataka, there were 1.74 lakh people in relief camps, about 35,000 of them rescued since Thursday night. About 64,300 hectares of agriculture land was inundated, taking the total area affected to 2.56 lakh hectares. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa put the preliminary estimate of flood losses at 5,000 crore, and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said that the Centre had released 200 crores for flood relief.

Houses buried

In the worst hit Kodagu district, five members belonging to two families were buried alive after their houses located next to each other collapsed in a landslip at Korangala village near Bhagamandala. Local residents rescued three persons.

In five districts of Western Maharashtra, the death toll in the last fortnight has touched 29, while 2.35 lakh people have been evacuated from Sangli and Kolhapur, besides 50,000 in Satara, Pune and Solapur.

Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr. Deepak Mhaisekar said the casualties include nine people who died in Sangli boat accident on Thursday, and 11 people were missing, nine of them from the boat incident.

Deficit wiped out

Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district recorded a staggering 91 cm of rain at Avalanche for a 24-hour period until Friday morning.

Six people have died in rain-related incidents in the Nilgiris in the week-long showers. The deaths were caused by collapsing buildings, flood waters and landslips. Three women and an 8-year-old child are among the dead.

In Gujarat, 26 out of 30 gates of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam were opened for the first time in two years to maintain water level at the 131.18-metre limit.

While the rain has had a devastating impact, it has nearly wiped out the monsoon deficit. The IMD on Friday said the monsoon deficit was down from 10.5% on July 31 to 0.6% as of August 9.

The IMD forecast was a 4% below normal season from June-September. Mr. Mohapatra said such spells were typical for August, but not reason enough to assume yet that it would be a ‘normal’ monsoon.

A new rain-bearing system was seen forming in the Bay of Bengal by August 12 with potential to bring rain to North India, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

“So far, 83 National Disaster Response Force teams have been positioned in vulnerable areas of flood-affected states along with all necessary equipment. These are in addition to the 173 teams of Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Control Rooms in the Ministry of Home Affairs, NDRF, IMD, and Central Water Commission are keeping a close watch. They have evacuated over 82,000 people to safer places and rescued 2,325 people,” a statement from the Press Information Bureau said. This followed a review meeting chaired by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai.

The Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam continued to fill up fast but acted to maintain the water level at 131.18 metres, the limit allowed by Narmada Control Authority. Gujarat

The administration alerted the downstream districts of Narmada, Bharuch and Vadodara about potential flooding. Several bridges have been closed as the Narmada is flowing at danger level.Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam MD Rajiv Kumar Gupta visited Sardar Sarovar dam. Dr. Gupta tweeted that the 1200 MW power house was operated on Thursday after a gap of two years.

On Friday, Gujarat continued to receive medium to heavy rainfall. More than 3,000 people were shifted to safer locations.

The Gujarat government said 168 taluks received rain during the last 24 hours, and 14 dams and reservoirs were overflowing. But total monsoon rainfall in the State stood at 66.41% in the season.

Massive rainfall in Tamil Nadu’s elevated ranges in the Western Ghats paralysed life in the plains, with the Noyyal, Bhavani and Moyar rivers swelling up to the brim. Valparai, the tea and coffee-growing part of the mountains was lashed by torrential rain, sending copious inflows to reservoirs in the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project.

The record for the highest rain volume in the State, held by Cuddalore since 1943, was broken for two consecutive days in Avalanche in the Nilgiris, with 820 mm on Thursday, and 911 mm on Friday.

 

President Kovind gives assent to Jammu and Kashmir bifurcation, two UTs to come into existence on October 31

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday gave assent to a legislation for bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, and two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh – will come into existence on October 31.

October 31 happens to be the birth anniversary of the country’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was instrumental in the merger of about 565 princely States into the Union of India following Independence.

The Parliament had earlier this week given its nod to the legislation for bifurcating the State, a bold and far-reaching decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement.

The President has given assent to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, a home ministry official said.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (a) of section 2 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019), the Central Government hereby appoints the 31st day of October, 2019, as the appointed day for the purposes of the said Act,” a home ministry notification said.

Three days after the far-reaching decision to abrogate the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcate the State, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a nearly 40-minute televised address to the nation on Thursday, sought to assuage concerns of the people saying Jammu and Kashmir will not remain a Union Territory for long.

“As Jammu and Kashmir will see more and more development, I do not think it will remain a Union Territory for long. Ladakh will remain a Union Territory,” Mr. Modi said. According to the legislation, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Puducherry and Ladakh will be a UT like Chandigarh, without legislature.

In both the Union Territories, key subjects such as law and order will be with the Centre.

The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a Lieutenant Governor and the maximum strength of its Assembly will be 107, which will be enhanced to 114 after a delimitation exercise. Twenty-four seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The current effective strength of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is 87, including four seats falling in Ladakh region, which will now be a separate UT without a legislature.

The UT of Ladakh will have Kargil and Leh districts.

The Act said Jammu and Kashmir UT will have reservation in the Assembly seats.

The Lieutenant Governor of the successor UT of J&K may nominate two members to the Legislative Assembly to give representation to women, if in his opinion, women are “not adequately” represented in the Legislative Assembly.

It also said that the Lok Sabha will have five seats from the UT of J&K, while from Ladakh the Lower House of Parliament will have one seat.

Source – The Hindu