Rains bring Maharashtra, Gujarat to a crawl

Rain fury continued unabated today in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala paralysing normal life, bringing road and rail traffic to a virtual halt and claiming 62 lives in the three states.

The army carried out rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas of Punjab and Haryana following a breach in the Sutlaj-Yamuna Link canal and flooding of Ghaggar and Tangri rivers.

South Gujarat was battered by heavy rains for the second day, claiming 46 lives including 28 in Bharuch district, where 13,000 people had been shifted to safer places.

At least 16 people, including nine children and four women, perished in heavy rains that lashed Kerala triggering landslides and flash floods. Incessant heavy rains today continued to lash most parts of Maharashtra, disrupting normal life. In Mumbai, local train services were temporarily thrown out of gear on the Western and Central lines. Most offices decided to down shutters in the post-lunch session as very few employees turned up for work.

While Reliance Industries reported full attendance, several other corporates including Essar Steel reported not more than 60 per cent attendance.

Companies with manufacturing units situated in south Gujarat reported substantial losses following flooding in the area. Drug maker Ipca Laboratories has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that due to incessant rainfall during the last few days in and around Silvassa, flood waters have entered the company's new manufacturing unit situated at Piparia (Silvassa). The unit was commissioned in March 2004.

"The flood waters have now completely receded and the loss/damage to the building, plant and machinery, electrical and other fittings, raw materials, packing materials and finished goods is being ascertained. All these assets are fully insured," the company said in its notice to the stock exchange.

There would, however, be no major disruption in the supply of pharmaceuticals by the company in the domestic market, it added. Omnitex Industries, another company with manufacturing facilities at Silvassa, has informed the exchange about the damage done by heavy rains to its factory. "The rains have caused extensive loss or damage to the company's plant and machinery, stocks, electrical installations, vehicles, and furniture. The entire plant and machinery together with stocks and other assets are adequately insured with United Insurance Company and they have already been informed of the development. Almost one-third of the total capacity is not in operation," the company said in a notice to the stock Exchange.

Power supplier to Mumbai, Reliance Energy said in spite of the heavy rains and water logging in various parts of the city in the last 120 hours, its electrical infrastructure such as sub-stations and receiving stations, mini-pillars have withstood the inclement weather and supplied uninterrupted power to its 22 lakh consumers.

Reliance Energy's service to the city remained uninterrupted due to the round the clock advance planning by its operations and maintenance staff, the release added.