Schools in 2 zones of Surat Municipal Corporation continue to remain shut as several areas reel under waterlogging

However, Bhagirathsinh Parmar, Surat District Education Officer, said the administration had to issue notices to the SD Jain School, Sungrace School and North Gujarat School, who had kept their schools open on Tuesday in violation of the state government notification.

He said the government will wait for their responses and then take action. “The decision to keep the schools shut even on Wednesday was that of the individual principals,” he said.

Meanwhile, after continuous discharge of over 2.4 lakh cusecs of water from the Ukai dam into the Tapi river on Tuesday, the dam authorities on Wednesday reduced the discharge to 1.48 lakh cusecs of water. Around afternoon, the inflow of water in the dam from the upper catchment area was 1.03 lakh cusec.

Due to heavy discharge of water from the dam, the water level in the Tapi river rose. On Tuesday, the water level of the Tapi river, measured at the Hope bridge, was 7 metre while on Wednesday, it was around 6.7 metre. The danger mark is at 9.5 metre.

The weir cum causeway (a bridge which has both gated and ungated portions) over the Tapi river connecting Rander and Singhanpur in Surat, has been kept closed for the public as the water has been flowing at 9.59 metre against the 6 metre danger mark.

With a rise in the water level of the river, the Surat Municipal Corporation had on August 25 and 26 shut down all its 82 flood gates at 52 locations along the Tapi river in the city. However, during these days, the city witnessed heavy rainfall, as a result of which, several streets got inundated due to the accumulated water.

Surat Municipal corporation City engineer Akshay Pandya said, “Since the dam authorities have reduced the discharge of water into the river, we have started opening the floodgates.”

Pandya added, “The most affected areas in Surat city are places under the Katargam, North and Central zones. Once the water is flushed out, we will carry out measures to remove solid waste and disinfect the areas. Door to door surveys will be carried out by the health officials.”

The water also entered several schools and when the flood started to recede, Wednesday onwards, the school authorities started to clean their campuses.

Parmar said, “The school principals have been instructed to keep the schools clean once the water recedes.”