Cyclonic storm 'Sagar' not to affect Gujarat, says govt

Cyclonic storm 'Sagar' is not going to affect to Gujarat in anyways, announced Gujarat government on Thursday as they received the message from the meteorology department on the diverted cyclone. The revenue secretary Pankaj Kumar made the message public through social media platforms too and the same was then further disseminated by the district collectors of state.

The additional chief secretary in revenue department Pankaj Kumar posted on his Twitter account at around 3:00 pm, "Cyclonic storm #Sagarsituated over the Gulf of Aden is Not going to affect Gujarat. It is going further away from us." He also put the twitter handles of different district collectors too so that people could approach their concerned official when they need.

The relief secretary in Gujarat MR Kothari talking to dna said, "We have received the inputs from the meteorology department that the cyclone Sagar was diverted towards Oman and has concentrated near Gulf of Aden. So no any threat or fear looms over Gujarat owing to the cyclonic system. There is no any alert given by the state government to anyone except for the fishermen to venture in or near Gulf of Aden and Oman for fishing. Fishing in Indian marine borders is safe as well. We also got the input that no atmospherical changes also are likely in Gujarat."

Initially, however, the state administration was not willing to take any chance and initially taking the precautionary measures that included hoisting of Distant Warning (DW) signal number 2 at all major ports along the Gujarat coast. The meteorological department issued an advisory asking fishermen not to enter the deep sea in view of adverse weather conditions.

As per the warning-cum-advisory issued afternoon by Met Centre in Ahmedabad. The centre had given the warning that the cyclonic storm was centred in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen coast in the Arabian sea and was likely to "intensify further slightly during the next 12 hours".

"This cyclonic storm is very far from us and it is going towards Gulf of Oman in the north. The possibility of 'Sagar' making any significant impact along the Gujarat coast is very less. There is no need to worry," said Jayanta Sarkar, Director, Met Centre.

"Upon receiving the weather advisory, we have put our staff on alert mode. We have also asked fisheries officials to warn fishermen about the storm so that they don't go towards the Gulf of Aden. Port officials are also in our contact and signal number 2 has been hoisted," said MA Pandya, collector of coastal Porbandar district.