Customs Ports Mundra, Kandla, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar in the Eye of Cyclone Biparjoy

· Biparjoy to make landfall from Thursday 15^th June

· Max Wind Speed 200 kmph Expected

· Customs must Shift to Disaster Mode, Ports must Follow, No Demurrage or Container Rent, Summary Manual mode Customs Clearance must

Local authorities have begun evacuating people in Gujarat districts by the sea in view of the cyclone, which is likely to make landfall along the Saurashtra-Kutch coasts on June 15.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed preparedness of Central and Gujarat government agencies with regard to the impending landfall of Cyclone Biparjoy this week.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also attended the high-level meeting chaired by the PM.

“Prime Minister directed senior officers to take every possible measure to ensure that people living in vulnerable locations are safely evacuated by the State Government and to ensure maintenance of all essential services such as power, telecommunications, health, drinking water etc. and are restored immediately in the event of damages caused to them. He also directed that the safety of animals should also be ensured. He further directed for 24×7 functioning of control rooms,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office read.

The cyclone was expected to cross Saurashtra and Kutch between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan near Jakhau Port (Gujarat) by Thursday noon in the form of a “very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kmph gusting to 145 kmph”, the Met department said at the meeting. Pak met claims wind speed can go up to 200 km, conditions to last for 10 days.

The Met department also said that heavy rainfall was expected in the coastal districts of Gujarat, including extremely heavy rainfall in Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar and heavy to very heavy rainfall in a few places in Porbandar, Rajkot, Morbi and Junagarh districts of Gujarat on Wednesday and Thursday. The Met department has been issuing bulletins since June 6 at the onset of the cyclonic system and sharing its forecasts with all agencies concerned.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs was constantly reviewing the situation and was in touch with the Gujarat government and Central agencies concerned, the PMO said.

“NDRF has pre-positioned 12 teams, which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment etc. and has kept 15 teams on standby. Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations. Air Force and Engineer task force units of the Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment. Surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out serial surveillance along the coast. Disaster Relief teams (DRTs) and Medical Teams (MTs) of Army, Navy and Coast Guard are on standby,” the PMO said.

Meanwhile, the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) chaired by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba also met on Monday to review preparations for the cyclone in the Arabian Sea.

Gujarat Chief Secretary told the Committee that the preparations had been made to protect those living in the expected path of the cyclone.

“Fishermen have been advised not to venture out into the sea and those at sea have been called back to safe berth. A total of 21,000 boats have been parked so far. List of all vulnerable villages have been prepared for evacuation purpose. Details of Saltpan workers have also been prepared for shifting them to safe places,” a statement said.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had already deployed 12 teams and an additional three teams were ready to be mobilised in Gujarat.

Apart from the Chief Secretary of Gujarat, the meeting was attended by the Union Home Secretary, Chairman and CEO of Railway Board and the secretaries of the ministries of Civil Aviation, Power, Ports, Shipping & Waterways and the Department of Fisheries.