Speaker 1: In this episode, we talk about Mumbai, where the arrival
Speaker 1: of a bureaucrat has led to a crackdown on the
Speaker 1: food industry of the state, including well known establishments like
Speaker 1: Chirustam and Parsidiary Farm among others. We also talk about
Speaker 1: nearly forty people losing their lives due to reign related
Speaker 1: incidents in Gutrath, which is facing floods due to excessive rainfall.
Speaker 1: But first we talk about what finally led to the
Speaker 1: Hminra Pradhan's resignation and what that means for the ruling government. Hi,
Speaker 1: I am Aherikan Nanda and you are listening to three
Speaker 1: things in an Express News show. Bringing more than a
Speaker 1: month of student protests across several cities in the country
Speaker 1: to an end, Union Education ministered Hermindra Pradhan resigned on Saturday.
Speaker 1: The government accepted the protesters' key demands, including Pradhan's resignation
Speaker 1: and assurance that no legal action would be taken against
Speaker 1: those who took part in the protests and compensation for
Speaker 1: the families of neat aspirants who died by suicide after
Speaker 1: the paper league in May. In an open letter posted
Speaker 1: on x, Pradhan said he had decided to step down
Speaker 1: in the interest of national unity and to ensure that
Speaker 1: students would not face legal hurdles and could instead focus
Speaker 1: on their education and careers. Post the announcement on X
Speaker 1: the Corporad Chunka party, which had mobilized the protests, celebrated
Speaker 1: the win.
Speaker 2: Very d tell you we are good. Yea hell is
Speaker 2: karma Stepokar.
Speaker 1: Now, yesterday the government replaced Pradhan with Halad Joshi, who
Speaker 1: is also the Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister. So
Speaker 1: to understand how events unfolded over the past month and
Speaker 1: what ultimately led to Pradhan's resignation, we speak to the
Speaker 1: Indian Expresses Jatin Anand, who has been reporting on the story. Jatin,
Speaker 1: what does Tarminro Pradhan's resignation mean in the current context,
Speaker 1: especially with protests across the country having demanded exactly that.
Speaker 3: It is certainly a big development to say the least.
Speaker 3: This is not only a very rare occasion where the
Speaker 3: PGP led India government has sort of retracted, sort of
Speaker 3: gone a couple of steps back to be able to
Speaker 3: move slightly forward in terms of the legislative business that
Speaker 3: it has on its agenda for the ongoing monsoon session,
Speaker 3: but in the largest scheme of things in terms of
Speaker 3: its administrative and governmental experience since it has come to power.
Speaker 3: This is just the second instance of a senior minister,
Speaker 3: with the first being mister M. J. Albert who had
Speaker 3: stepped down after met allegations had surfaced against him. So
Speaker 3: mister Dhmindra Padhan is the second senior cabinet minister from
Speaker 3: the JP led India government to put in his papers.
Speaker 3: And on the other hand, if we talk about the
Speaker 3: government's functioning or the government's perception or the government's experience
Speaker 3: in power, the jpled India government's experience, this is the
Speaker 3: third time that they're climbing down from a nationwide from
Speaker 3: a national issue, with the first being the CAAA NRC
Speaker 3: protests which had spread across the country starting from Asam
Speaker 3: and with Asam being a major flashpoint. Following that, it
Speaker 3: was the three Farm laws which had the farmer community
Speaker 3: across states almost across the country up in arms, with
Speaker 3: the second such instance of such an issue which forced
Speaker 3: the j P led India government to climb down. So
Speaker 3: this is the third time that the JP led NDA
Speaker 3: government has taken two steps back to be able to
Speaker 3: move one step forward in terms of its larger.
Speaker 1: Agenda and what does his resignation mean for the government
Speaker 1: and the BJP.
Speaker 3: Well, we must see this and this must be answered
Speaker 3: from the point of view of the fact that the
Speaker 3: monsoon session of the Parliament is currently underway. This is
Speaker 3: a government which was looking to after it tried to
Speaker 3: bring in the Delimitation Package as it is called, which
Speaker 3: had a Constitution amendment and also a proposed law for
Speaker 3: delimitation of Lok Saba seats across the country and also
Speaker 3: tied along with that was the Women's Reservation build So
Speaker 3: for a government which had these important bills on its
Speaker 3: agenda and was looking to stitch together a two third
Speaker 3: majority which is required for it to be able to
Speaker 3: pass these laws, for that government, from that point of view,
Speaker 3: it is a very significant development it has instead of
Speaker 3: being able to move forward and get more numbers on
Speaker 3: its side, in this context, this is certainly a defeat.
Speaker 1: And Jatin, how have students and protesters reacted to his
Speaker 1: resignation and what kind of reactions have we seen from
Speaker 1: CGP leaders.
Speaker 3: So for these protesters from across age groups, from across
Speaker 3: academic courses, espousing different causes for them. It has been jubilation.
Speaker 3: It has triggered jubilation all around, so much so that
Speaker 3: as soon as mister Dermindrupdan's sudden announcement of his stepping
Speaker 3: down from the education portfolio emerged yesterday, they were all
Speaker 3: at stat tic. I mean, all it takes is just
Speaker 3: going through one's social media timeline and there is jubilation
Speaker 3: all around as far as the current circumstances are concerned.
Speaker 3: So from that perspective, it is a victory that the
Speaker 3: students have rightly claimed for themselves, all the protesters have
Speaker 3: rightly claimed for themselves yesterday, and more or less the
Speaker 3: celebrations still continue, but they seem to be rather localized
Speaker 3: since the large focal point that Juandra Manther was is
Speaker 3: no longer there. It's been dismantled since last night.
Speaker 1: And you write that at the beginning of the week
Speaker 1: there were no indications that remainder Prashand would resign. In fact,
Speaker 1: the government didn't seem to be considering it. So what changed,
Speaker 1: what led to this decision, and what ultimately prompted his resignation.
Speaker 3: So a brief chronology of these four days is important
Speaker 3: to underline. So Monday you have these clashes which erupted
Speaker 3: between security personnel and students. Tuesday, as his customary, Prime
Speaker 3: ministerner In Remodi chaired a meeting of the NDA Parliamentary Party,
Speaker 3: which had representatives not just on the PJP but also
Speaker 3: from significant NDA allies like the TDP, the GDU and
Speaker 3: so on and so forth assembling in the Parliament. So,
Speaker 3: following this NDA parliamentary meeting, which happened in the parliament,
Speaker 3: Parliamentary Affairs Minister current Dju came out in briefed reporters
Speaker 3: about the fact that mister Moody had spoken about the issue.
Speaker 3: He had spoken about the classes between or rather alluded
Speaker 3: to the classes between students slash protesters and security personnel.
Speaker 3: According to mister Rigiju, in the meeting, mister Moody had
Speaker 3: underlined the fact that whenever an instance of a paper
Speaker 3: leak an exam paper league had come to light, the
Speaker 3: NBA government had moved swiftly to take action and also
Speaker 3: to underline that sure, there, okay, yes, it is unfortunate
Speaker 3: that there was a paper leak in the need UGC exam.
Speaker 3: But despite that, and following that, the government not only
Speaker 3: ensured that the paper was canceled, but also ensured that
Speaker 3: the re examination could happen and lacks of students who
Speaker 3: had lost out on a possible opportunity to be able
Speaker 3: to qualify, how they were given a second chance at
Speaker 3: this despite the paper leak. So on Wednesday we had
Speaker 3: the NDA take a step forward and put its weight
Speaker 3: behind a discussion of the need issue, and not just
Speaker 3: the need issue, but to discuss all instances of paper
Speaker 3: leaks which have taken place across states in the country.
Speaker 3: On Thursday, the next day, the tone of the government
Speaker 3: more or less changed. It became less combative and he
Speaker 3: saw Prime Minister Narramudi try to take the issue ahead
Speaker 3: on himself by announcing on his X account that efforts
Speaker 3: were underway to ensure that fast track courts were established
Speaker 3: across the country to tackle such issues in the future.
Speaker 3: This was followed by a public appeal by Prime Minister
Speaker 3: Modi on his X account late on Thursday night, where
Speaker 3: he sought to seemingly address students himself. He began his
Speaker 3: address by calling his viewers friends, which, according to Party
Speaker 3: in Ciders, was a clear indication that he was directly
Speaker 3: attempting to address the student community of the country.
Speaker 4: Friends, the paper league, he are Italy paper lead such
Speaker 4: aid ahead.
Speaker 3: And then on that very evening, within a few minutes,
Speaker 3: we had another big development take place, which was Sonmanchuk
Speaker 3: ending is fast at the hands of union ministers JP
Speaker 3: Nada and doctor Singh. And then on Friday Prime mister
Speaker 3: Movie posted the same video message on Instagram and he
Speaker 3: actually thanked his audience and you know the people per
Speaker 3: se for giving quote unquote constructive suggestions on his previous post.
Speaker 5: Thank your friends, called the rath video posta update this
Speaker 5: thanks to everybody Ya papara amaranata or a sakaratas, thank you,
Speaker 5: thank you dothor.
Speaker 3: So this sort of underlying the fact that all responses,
Speaker 3: all public sentiment around what was happening at Janramantar. So
Speaker 3: all of this was being monitored and it appears and
Speaker 3: we are told reliably that it was only after the
Speaker 3: government realized that there is no comeback from this, that
Speaker 3: there is no other alternative left then honoring the primary demand,
Speaker 3: which was mister's resignation. So the government realized that the
Speaker 3: only alternative left for them is to just get that done.
Speaker 1: Right and Jatin now Joshi has taken over as the
Speaker 1: Union Education minister tell us about him and what kind
Speaker 1: of a political career has he seen.
Speaker 3: Yes, so, mister Joshi is somebody who is considered very
Speaker 3: close to the powers that be, to the national leadership
Speaker 3: of the DJP. He is somebody who has risen through
Speaker 3: the ranks since he's been associated, for example, with the
Speaker 3: SUNG since his early days. He comes from Karnataka, which
Speaker 3: the BJP RSIST combined considers a very significant nodal point
Speaker 3: as far as its influence across Southern India is concerned.
Speaker 3: Mister Joshi is as per what I've been told and
Speaker 3: as per my discussions with some people in the party
Speaker 3: since last evening, he is considered to be somebody who
Speaker 3: brings a strategic edge to not just his governmental duties
Speaker 3: but also to organizational matters. He has served as, for example,
Speaker 3: the chief of the BJP's local unit in Karnataka for
Speaker 3: a long time. He has served as Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Speaker 3: in the previous India government. And currently he's also somebody
Speaker 3: who is leading this very significant central government scheme which
Speaker 3: is the PM Suregger Muftbisli Yozana, which basically as solar
Speaker 3: power at its core. So he's a senior hand who
Speaker 3: has not only cut his teeth in the organization but
Speaker 3: also in the government. So looking at his appointment in
Speaker 3: this context, given the current circumstances, the Ndia government does
Speaker 3: have a very significant legislative agenda which on its roster.
Speaker 3: So it remains to be seen how effective mister Joshi
Speaker 3: will be in Parliament because he's no longer Parliamentary Affairs
Speaker 3: Minister like he was earlier, but as the new Education Minister.
Speaker 6: Right and Sutton.
Speaker 1: We also understand that the government is going to introduce
Speaker 1: a more stringent law against paper leagues. What what can
Speaker 1: we expect from that?
Speaker 3: Well, this is a law which has been crafted after
Speaker 3: an entire at least an entire day's work, with the
Speaker 3: Prime Minister's office said to have been monitoring everything related
Speaker 3: to it between Wedness Day and Thursday night, when Prime
Speaker 3: Minister Mudi himself in a video message announced that the
Speaker 3: draft was ready and the draft to be tabled in
Speaker 3: the Union Cabinet, which eventually happened on Friday and the
Speaker 3: draft received the nod of the Union Cabinet and is
Speaker 3: now in bill form and is listed for tabling in
Speaker 3: the log Saha by Union Minister Jitenrissingh on Monday. So
Speaker 3: this law, which is called the Public Examination's Prevention of
Speaker 3: Unfair Means Amendment at twenty twenty six, it has already
Speaker 3: been circulated among members of Parliament on Saturday. So this
Speaker 3: law seeks to increase the punishment for those involved in
Speaker 3: you know, quote unquote unfair means, including the leagues of
Speaker 3: question papers of public examinations, to increase their imprisonment from
Speaker 3: three to five years to a quantum of five to
Speaker 3: ten years number one, and also increasing the find which
Speaker 3: was previously to piece ten LAK to repeace, fifty LAC
Speaker 3: to ten crow rupeace. So the teeth that the government
Speaker 3: intends to give the particular law, I mean, they don't
Speaker 3: get sharper than this. So this proposed law will cover
Speaker 3: all examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, which
Speaker 3: is the UPC which administers the examinations which give us
Speaker 3: the countries ifs and IAS and IPS officers. It will
Speaker 3: also include the Staff Selection Commission which also at the
Speaker 3: central level and as well as the state and also
Speaker 3: the Railway Recruitment Board and similar examinations which are held
Speaker 3: across the country.
Speaker 1: And next we turned to Mumbai, where bureaucrats arrival has
Speaker 1: put the city's food industry on edge. In the last
Speaker 1: two months, Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration has carried out
Speaker 1: multiple inspections across the state, seized food stock worth nearly
Speaker 1: fifty row rupees, invoked stringent MACOCA law against organized GOODCA
Speaker 1: networks and suspended the licenses of dozens of restaurants.
Speaker 6: So the crackdown began with the new FDA Commissioner Tukaramunde
Speaker 6: who took chart on May twenty fifth, and since then
Speaker 6: crackdown have been very, very extensive.
Speaker 1: That's the Indian expresses Nina Kandelwald, who reported on the
Speaker 1: story for the newspaper.
Speaker 6: If I have to give you numbers, there were over
Speaker 6: one thousand inspection slash raids between May twenty fifth and
Speaker 6: July fourteenth. This is from the cumulative data that every
Speaker 6: shared with all the journalists and the raids are across
Speaker 6: various sectors.
Speaker 1: And these are not just small or unknown establishments. Some
Speaker 1: of Mumbai's oldest and best known food institutions, including Kousam
Speaker 1: Nour Mohammadi, Chalimar and Parsi Dairy Farm have faced action
Speaker 1: and at the center of this crackdown is Tukaram Mundi,
Speaker 1: who has long been seen as an officer who enforces
Speaker 1: ruled strictly and resists political pressure. So to understand what
Speaker 1: explains Tukara Mundai's latest crackdown and why are Mumbai's restaurants anxious,
Speaker 1: my colleague Chashama spoke to Hina for this segment.
Speaker 7: Hinaw for our listeners who may be hearing his name
Speaker 7: for the very first time, could you begin by introducing
Speaker 7: Tukaram Mundei his background as a public servant.
Speaker 6: Right, So, Tukara Munday is the two thousand and five
Speaker 6: Batch I officer and he is amongst Mahrastra's most discussed
Speaker 6: civil servants. He hears from Bead region. He was born
Speaker 6: in a family of farmers and he describes his father
Speaker 6: as an honest and hard working man and he credits
Speaker 6: him for instilling in him the values you know with
Speaker 6: which he run today. He is somebody who takes pride
Speaker 6: in being an honest IS officer and over the years,
Speaker 6: like is somebody who has had I think around twenty
Speaker 6: five transfers in a career of two decades, you know,
Speaker 6: making him one of Maharashtra's most frequently trying is officers.
Speaker 7: Right, and so what has changed inside Maharashtra's FDA since
Speaker 7: Monday took charge? And also why has this enforcement drive
Speaker 7: attracted so much attention?
Speaker 6: So he took chart on May twenty fifth, and just
Speaker 6: to tell you from a journalistic point of view, it
Speaker 6: wasn't like the actions were not taken earlier. Okay, it
Speaker 6: was not like inspections were not being done or raids
Speaker 6: were not being made. But what has happened is that
Speaker 6: they were never of this level. The intensity is much
Speaker 6: much higher. Like when we talk about eleven hundreds or
Speaker 6: so odd rates in like fifty odd days, it comes
Speaker 6: to like twenty rates per day, you know, even if
Speaker 6: you include weekends, and that's a massive number. Right. What
Speaker 6: he's doing is that he's doing a parallel crackdown on
Speaker 6: across industries. You know, whether it is somebody giving out
Speaker 6: a misleading advertisement selling irvathic medicine for serious ailments, whether
Speaker 6: it is illegal stocking of methanol which is used in
Speaker 6: production of country made liquor which is called they see
Speaker 6: you know, daru, whether there's unlicensed drug stocks like allopathic medicine,
Speaker 6: antibatic injections or and a big crackdown has happened in
Speaker 6: the food sector where restaurants, bakeries, eateries, dairies were involved
Speaker 6: in milk production, milk supply, milk transportation. He has paying
Speaker 6: special attention on adult treated milk and selling of good
Speaker 6: kind pan masala. So what he's doing essentially is that
Speaker 6: he's going heavy on milk, good car and food. And
Speaker 6: he has also issued compliance orders. Is issued three compliance orders,
Speaker 6: one each for food, milk and good car.
Speaker 7: Right, and so when it comes to restaurants and dairies,
Speaker 7: what are they being asked to do.
Speaker 6: When it comes to restaurants, the compliance order clearly puts
Speaker 6: in place what FSSI has already put in place that
Speaker 6: you have to have a valid license, your place of working,
Speaker 6: of kitchen you know where you're cooking should be hygienic.
Speaker 6: All the people who are handling food should undergo medical
Speaker 6: fitness exam annually. To produce should be fresh. No item
Speaker 6: of expiritage should be used in the kitchen or should
Speaker 6: be there in the kitchen. When it comes to milk,
Speaker 6: he's paying special attention on adulteration, whether it is adding
Speaker 6: water or ten other things, which makes it very very
Speaker 6: harmful for consumption. The compliance that he has, you know
Speaker 6: ordered also again puts in place the roles that each
Speaker 6: person in the supply chaint has to follow. The person
Speaker 6: who's a milk producer or a dairy farmer has to
Speaker 6: follow a high tien practice while milking the cows and
Speaker 6: the buffalos. When it goes to the dairy, all the
Speaker 6: people have been instructed on maintaining a standard temperature, you know,
Speaker 6: whether it's during transportation or a killing center. Is also
Speaker 6: put a ban on selling of loose milk, so people
Speaker 6: who have tabilas can sell lose milk, but everyone else
Speaker 6: has to sell milk in packets. And good Guy, as
Speaker 6: we know, is banned in Maharashtra. So he's just going
Speaker 6: big against anybody who is selling, procuring, supplying, transporting good
Speaker 6: Kan Parmazada and Hannah.
Speaker 7: Interestingly, you highlight how almost nobody seems to question his integrity,
Speaker 7: but the debate is really about his methods. Talk about
Speaker 7: what exactly is the criticism of his style of governance.
Speaker 6: So the criticism that is coming from the dairy farmers
Speaker 6: and the restaurants, since that's the area that I work
Speaker 6: a lot in restaurants, are happy. They're happy that you know,
Speaker 6: he's ensuring that everybody meets compliances. There are a lot
Speaker 6: of eateries, a lot of dabars, and even you know,
Speaker 6: good restaurants where kitchen is usually very dirty, right, and
Speaker 6: we just like sometimes, you know, as end consumer, we
Speaker 6: just turn a blind eye towards a lot of stuff.
Speaker 6: The criticism only is that, you know, and I'm verbet
Speaker 6: him quoting them, that the department could not be sleeping
Speaker 6: for so long and then suddenly wake up and go,
Speaker 6: you know, with this intensity, do a crackdown on everybody.
Speaker 6: But they're saying is that you know what that you
Speaker 6: want the system to be better, and so do restaurantiers.
Speaker 6: Why don't you know? They just asking for a more time.
Speaker 6: And the same is the case with dairy farmers. You know,
Speaker 6: for them, it's a lot of new rules for them.
Speaker 6: It's is something that they've not done ever. And they're saying,
Speaker 6: even if you were to pack pack every unit of
Speaker 6: milk and then seal it and stamp it and then
Speaker 6: sell it, we just need some time at least to
Speaker 6: do it because it also involves cost machinery. So they're
Speaker 6: just asking for more time. I think that's the common
Speaker 6: consensus that I've understood but there's a lot of fear.
Speaker 6: Let me tell you the restaurantiers, whether they're dairy farmers
Speaker 6: or milk suppliers, everybody is worried. The restauranteers are like,
Speaker 6: you know what, we want to be compliant. But this
Speaker 6: is also monsoon flies is a real problem. You know,
Speaker 6: those who are in older parts of Mumbai. There is
Speaker 6: always this problem with rats. So yeah, I mean they
Speaker 6: are happy that he is doing it, they're just not
Speaker 6: happy with the intensity with which it's being done.
Speaker 7: And Hannah, as you mentioned that restaurant owners themselves largely
Speaker 7: agree that food safety standards need improvement.
Speaker 6: So has the.
Speaker 7: Crackdown put a spotlight on the broader challenges of regulating
Speaker 7: food safety in a city like Mumbai.
Speaker 6: Definitely, But it also so for the longest we had,
Speaker 6: you know, FD commissioners before him, and the common problem
Speaker 6: that everybody put out was that they are not enough
Speaker 6: food safety officers to audit these restaurants properly, to inspect
Speaker 6: these restaurants properly. We had about two hundred odd new
Speaker 6: food safety officers who were in training and were inducted
Speaker 6: earlier this year. Even that is very less when it
Speaker 6: comes to the number of eateries we have in Mumbai.
Speaker 6: At the same time, I think everybody just took it
Speaker 6: for granted and kept their kitchens the way they kept
Speaker 6: which was not at all hygienic. I personally have visited
Speaker 6: so many kittens and I've seen people cleaning it as
Speaker 6: I'm entering, and the cleaning is something in the hygiene
Speaker 6: is something, especially when you're handling food or daily, is basic.
Speaker 6: It's a basic criteria. It is not really rocket science.
Speaker 6: So the fact that it continued for so long speaks
Speaker 6: so much about the system, whether it is food operators
Speaker 6: or about the department, but it also speaks about people
Speaker 6: and sometimes as and consumer, we've also made, you know,
Speaker 6: we have also accepted that this is how it's done,
Speaker 6: especially when you're eating at budgeted eight.
Speaker 7: Er right, and you highlight how restaurators have also raised
Speaker 7: questions about consistency and manpower and whether compliance can actually
Speaker 7: be achieved solely through these crackdowns.
Speaker 6: Right, So there's something that somebody in the restaurant business
Speaker 6: also pointed out to be that restauranteers need staff, especially
Speaker 6: restauranteers who are working on bigger turnover and limited profit.
Speaker 6: And there you are budgeted itches and they don't have
Speaker 6: Maharashtrian staff. As such, the Maharastrian population that's available to
Speaker 6: work is very limited. So a big portion of the
Speaker 6: staff members of people who come from behind up and
Speaker 6: other regents, and because they've come leaving their hometown and
Speaker 6: sometimes a family is wise children and parents back. They
Speaker 6: live here in one room apartment, there will be like
Speaker 6: ten people living in it. They personally don't follow as
Speaker 6: much hygiene as they should because they don't want to
Speaker 6: wash their clothes on daily basis or sometimes don't have
Speaker 6: bathrooms available to take a shower on a daily basis
Speaker 6: when everybody has to rush to work at the same time.
Speaker 6: Restaurant as an industry is also very exhaustive industries. It
Speaker 6: consumes you. There's a lot of work. It's a labor
Speaker 6: intensive industry, so that's also another problem. So restaurant had
Speaker 6: told me, ma'am, we try our best, but there's only
Speaker 6: so much that you can tell your staff. I am
Speaker 6: worried that if I push too much they will leave
Speaker 6: my job and put toward out saying that armor difficult boss,
Speaker 6: which will make it difficult for me to find new
Speaker 6: staff members. So it's multi layers problems and everybody is
Speaker 6: in facing some issue or the other. But I think
Speaker 6: it's also a matter of habit. You know, basic hygiene,
Speaker 6: as I said, is not really rocket science. Everybody has
Speaker 6: to adia do a basic hygiene while they're cooking food
Speaker 6: at home and we should not expect anything different when
Speaker 6: we are eating out as well.
Speaker 1: And in the end we talk about flooding caused by
Speaker 1: rains in Gujrat. Nearly forty people died in rain related
Speaker 1: incidents across the state, the highest being in Valsad and Navsari,
Speaker 1: which together reported thirty three deaths till Saturday, largely caused
Speaker 1: by electrocution or drowning. One death each was reported from
Speaker 1: Tapi and Sura districts in South Gujrat till Saturday, according
Speaker 1: to sources in the state Revenue Department. The Indian Expresses
Speaker 1: Kamal Said reported that in m Dabad district, the Army
Speaker 1: and Gunjat police personnel rescued several persons from industrial units
Speaker 1: and warehouses, even as the sixty kilometer NH forty seven
Speaker 1: connecting m Dabad to Rajkot remained closed to traffic till
Speaker 1: Bagodha for the second consecutive day because of flood related damage.
Speaker 1: The state highway connecting the city to Wiramgam through the
Speaker 1: autoharbs of Sanand and Mandel, which was closed on Friday,
Speaker 1: opened late Saturday for heavy vehicles. This stretch sees the
Speaker 1: busiest commercial traffic and has developed into an industrial and
Speaker 1: logistics zone. The flooding in the district is being attributed
Speaker 1: to excessive rainfall and water released from Sabarmati River through
Speaker 1: the Wan Savaraj in m Dabad. The district police rescued
Speaker 1: nine hundred workers from the Gallops industrial park in Bahwa,
Speaker 1: close to Sananth, while more than eighty workers were rescued
Speaker 1: from an Amazon warehouse in a village in bagodhat A
Speaker 1: Luka by the army. Although rainfall eased in Mdaba city,
Speaker 1: the southwestern suburbs, including areas in Bopal, Guma, Sindhubawan Road
Speaker 1: or the sbr And Taltage remained flooded. At several places.
Speaker 1: Sinkholes were reported. Places such as Haryumbla in Bopal, where
Speaker 1: Chief Minister Pupeen Riptale visited on Friday, continued to be
Speaker 1: under foot deep water. Apart from South Gujrat, one death
Speaker 1: each was reported from Sanand and Holka in Ahdabad district
Speaker 1: and one each from Anand and Radhampur. In Banaskanta district,
Speaker 1: Navsari Superintendent of Police Trahjalpatale told Kamal that twenty three
Speaker 1: deaths were reported and nearly twenty thousand people were rescued
Speaker 1: and shifted to different places by the district administration. Walsad
Speaker 1: sp Uvat sEH Jadeja said that ten people were reported
Speaker 1: dead from the district and over sixteen thy five hundred
Speaker 1: people had been rescued and shifted to shelter homes or
Speaker 1: to their relatives places by the district administration. The rainfall
Speaker 1: has led to a rise in the water level in
Speaker 1: the rivers, creeks and also in the times. Due to
Speaker 1: levels of rivers rising, water entered many low lying areas
Speaker 1: in Nasari, Valsadsura, Tapi of Saud Gujrat. In Surath, machinery
Speaker 1: in several textile units continue to remain in frontwaters. Thousands
Speaker 1: of cars and bikes in Surat, Navsari and Valsad were
Speaker 1: submerged in water. You were listening to Three Things by
Speaker 1: the Indian Express. Today's episode was edited and mixed by
Speaker 1: Surish Brawar and produced by Ichasharma and me Niharikananda. If
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