Gujarat CM flags off flood relief train to Punjab

Ahmedabad, Sep 11 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday flagged off a train carrying food and other essential items to provide relief to people in flood-hit Punjab.

Patel has also sent cheques of Rs 5 crore each to Punjab and Chhattisgarh for flood relief, a government release said.

He flagged off the special relief train to Punjab from Gandhinagar Capital Railway Station, carrying 400 tonnes of essential food items like wheat flour, onion, potato, rice, groundnut oil, sugar and milk powder, as well as 10,000 pieces of tarpaulin, 10,000 mosquito nets, 10,000 bed sheets and 70 tonnes of medicines, it said.

Arrangements were made by various state departments to deliver the essential commodities to Punjab through the special relief train, said the release.

After the train's departure, Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel told reporters that the state recently also sent nearly 8,000 kits of relief material and food items to the flood-affected areas of Chhattisgarh.

In view of the natural calamity in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, CM Bhupendra Patel has sent cheques of Rs 5 crore each to both his counterparts, said the minister, who is the Gujarat government's spokesperson.

The chief minister will also visit the rain-affected areas of Gujarat's Banaskantha district along with assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary and the in-charge ministers to review the ongoing relief work, he added. PTI PJT PD GK