New Delhi: Setup by Union Home Ministry, a war room is keeping a close watch on the development of cyclone Biparjoy with the officials designated to this particular room in close contact with authorities in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
"We have been keeping a close watch on the landfall of Biparjoy," a senior official in the Home Ministry told ETV Bharat. Following the directions of Home Minister Amit Shah, the war room has been set up on the first floor of the Home Ministry building. An additional secretary-level officer is leading the war room.
Meanwhile, the top officials at the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) headquarters in New Delhi are also monitoring the situation in connection with Cyclone Biparjoy. Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra has also been assigned to join the NDRF in the monitoring process.
"Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, NDRF Director General Atul Karwal along with other senior officials are monitoring the situation in Gujarat," said a senior NDRF official. Karwal earlier said that 18 teams of NDRF and 12 teams of SDRF have been deployed for rescue and relief operations.
"Reserved teams of NDRF have been in more than 15 places in North, East and South from where they can be airlifted to the spot," Karwal said. The 18 teams of NDRF are mostly stationed in Gujarat which is predicted to take the maximum brunt of the cyclonic storm. Meanwhile, the Railway Board has also set up a war room to monitor the real-time situation.
"Site monitoring screen has been connected with some of the places likely to be severely affected including Dwaraka, Veraval, Ahmadabad, Bhuj, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot, Mumbai etc," a railway ministry official said. The official said that the railway ministry has geared up its entire machinery to ensure minimal damage to railway assets in the areas affected by Biparjoy.
The affected railway zones namely Western and Northwestern railway zones have activated emergency control rooms at the zonal level as well as at the division level to handle the challenge effectively. "General Manager of these zones has been personally monitoring and supervising all arrangements," the official said. Eight companies of Railway Protection Force (RPF) consisting of 612 personnel dispersed to vulnerable locations in the sections, in addition to 958 RPF personnel already available at 26 stations.
Also read: High waves lash Gujarat coast as Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall with gushing wind, heavy rainfall
