Home Guard jawan dies after being swept away in Gujarat rains, NDRF retrieves body

DEVBHOOMI DWARKA (Gujarat): Amid the heavy rainfall in Gujarat for the past few days, a 34-year-old Home Guard, identified as Devesh, died after being swept away in the heavy rains. The body of the Home Guard was retrieved by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), NDRF officials confirmed.

Rajesh Kumar Mahalawat, NDRF Inspector said, “As you can see, monsoon is going on and our team for the past two months has been working in Dwarka. There were continuous heavy rains for the past five to six days in this region. On August 30, a Home Guard jawan was swept away under a bridge and we put out information that the jawan is to be rescued”, said the NDRF inspector.

According to NDRF officials, the initial rescue efforts for finding the body of the Home Guard were unsuccessful, and on September 1, his body was recovered.

#WATCH | Devbhoomi Dwarka, Gujarat: Rajesh Kumar Mahalawat, Inspector, NDRF 06 Battalion, Vadodara said, “Heavy rains are continuing here…On August 30, a Home Guard jawan was swept away and the search was on…Today we have rescued his body… The deceased jawan was around 34… pic.twitter.com/8qztisOWL3

— ANI (@ANI) September 2, 2024

On September 1, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had been briefed on the damage caused by heavy rainfall in Devbhoomi Dwarka district, including damage to homes, loss of livestock, and human casualties. It was reported that eight houses and huts were damaged, 25 animal deaths, one human death, and two others were injured.

“After relief and rescue operations in the state due to heavy rains, the government has been working on war-footing against the damage caused to the highways and focused on making the roads passable again, the necessary directions have been given to the system for this. Chief Engineers are continuously managing these operations from Gandhinagar under the guidance of Secretaries. A review of the ongoing operations in all talukas is being done by the local collectors, in-charge ministers/secretaries with the coordination of the department,” the CM said in a post on X.

Additionally, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) constituted an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (ICMT) to assess the damage caused by rainfall and floods in Gujarat. The IMCT, led by the executive director of National Insititute of Disaster Management (NIDM), will be visiting the flood affected districts of the statement, according to a statement by the ministry.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and assured him of all possible support and assistance from the Central government. (ANI)