Patil announces Rs 500-cr relief package for Gujarat

The Home Minister made an aerial survey of flooded areas before announcing the initial relief.

The central government on Friday announced Rs 500 crore as assistance for Gujarat where floods caused by monsoon rains have claimed 94 lives, displaced thousands and wrecked infrastructure across the state.

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Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who arrived in Gandhinagar on Friday evening on a two-day visit, made an aerial survey of flooded areas before announcing the relief.

Patil, who is expected to meet people in the affected regions Saturday, assured full support to the state government.

Helped by the Army and Air Force, the state government has mounted massive relief operations in south and central Gujarat, which remained waterlogged for the fifth day following continuous downpours.

"Vadodara, Khada and Anand districts are the worst affected. The floods have left 94 people dead while more than 200,000 people have been rescued (since Saturday)," state Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel said.

Food packets and water pouches were being distributed, he said. Apart from the national highway 8 - linking Ahmedabad to Vadodara and further to Mumbai - some 170 state roads and 929 district roads were damaged while power supply was affected in 4,500 villages.