The looming crisis over border district of Kutch was averted as the severe cyclonic storm Nilofar which had developed in the Arabian Sea weakened into a low pressure 480 km south west off Naliya coast on Friday morning. The state government also heaved a sigh of relief and sent more than 21,000 people who had been shifted to cyclone centres in the district back to their homes. After the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said early in the morning that Nilofar had weakened into depression from a deep depression, the district administration withdrew cyclone warning and ordered return of 21,532 people who had been evacuated from 101 villages along the long coastline of the district. “After the IMD update, we took a decision early in the morning to withdraw warning for the cyclone and decided to send people who had been shifted into cyclone centres to their respective villages. We informed industrial installations in the district they can resume operations. But the warning for fishermen not to venture into sea remains,” principal secretary Jagdish Gupta, who is in charge of Kutch district told The Indian Express. The people living in coastal villages and ports were evacuated on Thursday and the operation had gone on till late night. Gupta further said that as the cyclone weakened into a well marked low pressure, the Met department had forecast only light to moderate rains in the state with wind speeds not going beyond 55 km per hour. The effect of the approach of the system was felt in Abdasa and Bhuj talukas on Friday morning as it started drizzling. Streets in Naliya, where the cyclone was predicted to make landfall, turned slushy. But the light showers halted in the afternoon as wind speeds picked up. However, the winds were not threatening till evening. With this, the administration heaved a sigh of relief. The government had mobilised around 5,000 persons including personnel of NDRF, Coast Guard, State Reserve Police Force local police and employees and officers of various departments of the state government. While control rooms activated in all the nine talukas of the district while central control room was set up at district headquarters in Bhuj and it was equipped with two satellite phones. “It has been a satisfying exercise. We have ensured zero casualty. We could plan operations well and executed them,” Gupta said. Incidentally, more than 1,100 people had been killed when a cyclone had hit Kandla in 1998. The administration had ordered suspension operations in more than 6,000 industrial units in the district from Thursday onwards as a precautionary measure. Accordingly, Kandla and Mundra, the two biggest ports of the country in terms of handling cargo volumes, had remained shut. However, Gupta said they allowed two ultra mega power plants of Adani and Tata to resume operations from late Thursday night. Kutch collector Mahendra Patel said over 11,000 people had returned to their homes in Lakhpat, Abdasa, Mundra and Bhachau talukas by afternoon. The rest were being sent back by state transport buses. Originally, the district administration had planned to evacuate more than 31,000 people. But plans were drawn down on Thursday after Nilofar weakened.
