The Evening Wrap: Gujarat moves 47,000 people to safety as Cyclone Biparjoy approaches

Gujarat government has shifted 47,000 people from vulnerable areas to safer locations in view of the likely landfall of severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy in Kutch on June 14. The IMD has issued a red alert for coastal districts of Kutch and Saurashtra where strong winds and heavy rains are expected when the storm makes a landfall. With the cyclone barrelling towards the Gujarat coast, parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region received heavy rains accompanied by strong winds. Nine talukas in Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar and Rajkot districts received more than 50 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending on Wednesday morning. Today morning, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a review meeting at the State Emergency Operation Centre in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar regarding the preparedness for cyclone Biparjoy. As per the details, the cyclone is expected to move nearly north-northeastwards and cross Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near JakhauPort (Gujarat) by Thursday evening as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 km per hour gusting to 150 km per hour. The Met Department has predicted extremely heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds in coastal parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region, especially in the districts of Kutch, Porbandar and Devbhumi Dwarka. The IMD stated that the intensity of rainfall would increase as the cyclone approaches the Gujarat coast on June 15. The State authorities have deployed 18 teams of NDRF and 12 teams of SDRF in the coastal districts. Additionally, BSF, Army and Navy are also involved in the efforts to mitigate the damages the cyclone is likely to cause in wake of its landfall. In view of the cyclone, 69 trains have been cancelled, 33 trains have been short-terminated, while 27 trains short-originated as a precautionary measure, in view of safety of passengers, CPRO Western Railways said. Meanwhile, since all ports have been shut, more than 10,000 trucks are stranded in Kutch. Uttarakhand HC to hear plea against proposed mahapanchayat in Uttarkashi by right wing groups The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights against a proposed mahapanchayat in Uttarkashi by right-wing groups on June 15. This came soon after the vacation Bench of the Supreme Court refused to entertain the same urgent petition and had asked the petitioners to move the High Court. A Division Bench of the Nainital High Court comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal will hear the matter on Thursday, June 15, which is also the day when the mahapanchayat was initially called by ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’. Counsel for the petitioners Sharukh Alam told the court that certain organisations had called for the mahapanchayat and have given an ultimatum to people of a particular community to leave the area before the same. She said there was urgency in the matter and the Supreme Court also granted the petitioner the liberty to approach the High Court. Earlier in the day, a vacation Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, while responding to the lawyer who mentioned the unlisted matter, said law and order was an issue of the State and hence the petitioners should move the High Court. “Why there is a distrust of the High Court? They also have jurisdiction. You should have some trust. Why this short-circuiting, we are not on merits or cause. Why do you distrust the administration?” asked Justice Amanullah. The High Court’s intervention came a day after the Uttarkashi district administration denied permission to hold the mahapanchayat and imposed Section 144 in the town where the event was scheduled to happen. As the permission was denied to ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal have now taken charge to hold the event on the proposed date and time. Anuj Valiyan, State coordinator, Bajrang Dal said “when those who rape women did not care about Section 144, why those trying to prevent rapes should worry about the same.” Local traders and businessmen associations also extended support to the mahapanchayat by calling it a ‘local issue of the hill’. President of Purola Vyapar Mandal, Brij Mohan Chauhan, told The Hindu that shops in the town would remain closed until the administration removed Section 144. “This is our local matter and we will handle it. The police and the administration should not impose such bans,” he said. Not just the Association for Protection of Civil Rights but an urgent letter petition was also filed by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and poet Ashok Vajpeyi in the apex court requesting immediate ban on the mahapanchayat. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) too had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court to immediately intervene in the escalating communal tension in the State. Trouble in Uttarakhand began last month after a minor girl was allegedly abducted by two youths — a Hindu and a Muslim — in Uttarkashi. The two accused were caught by locals. Later an FIR was lodged against them. After this incident, various right wing organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bhairav Sena started protests against the minority community. ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’, a right wing group which announced a mahapanchayat on June 15, has allegedly pasted posters across the city asking Muslims to leave the town. Several Muslim families were hence forced to leave the town fearing for their security. Even as the right wing group is gearing up for its mahapanchayat, the office-bearers of the Muslim Seva Sansthan (MSS) called a mahapanchayat in the State capital Dehradun on June 18. The aim of the mahapanchayat is to draw the State government’s attention to the administration’s failure in Uttarkashi and the “exodus” of Muslims from the hill town, the MSS said. Manipur violence | At least 11 killed in late night attack in Khamenlok At least eleven villagers were massacred in a late night attack at Khamenlok in Imphal East district of violence-hit Manipur on June 13, police said. Several injured persons have been admitted in government and private hospitals. Hospital sources said that the death toll will increase since many wounded persons are admitted in the ICUs. The dead bodies have been kept in the mortuary of J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Porompat in Imphal. Police said that the militants hurled several bombs at Khamenlok late on Tuesday night killing and injuring several villagers. The unhurt villagers rushed out of their houses to flee to safe areas. However, the waiting tribal militants opened fire on the escaping villagers. Additional forces were rushed to Khamenlok. After some minutes of exchange of fire, tribal militants retreated. Khamenlok has been the main battleground for the Kuki tribal militants and the non-tribal Meiteis. In the past few days several persons were killed and wounded in clashes with the militant groups who are armed with many sophisticated weapons. Reacting to the massacre of innocent villagers, the CLP leader, Okram Ibobi, said that during election time the BJP bigshots rushed to Manipur almost every second day. “Today no such leader is seen here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not spoken a word on these killings which had started from May 3. Representatives of ten political parties are planning to rush to Delhi to demand a lasting solution to the bloody confrontations”. He added that the parties are demanding a special session of the Manipur Assembly to discuss the growing bloodshed. The violence Manipur is experiencing now is “quite unprecedented”. The District Magistrates in Imphal East and Imphal West had shortened the curfew. In view of the “improved law and order situation” the curfew hours were relaxed in these two districts from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday. However, women protested against the firing of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters in the Imphal areas. Besides, some security personnel had smashed wind screens of parked cars. Some houses were also fired on, smashing their window panes. The rescheduled curfew hours in these two districts are from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. T.N. Minister Senthilbalaji arrest: Madras High Court judge recuses himself from hearing Minister’s wife’s petition One of the two judges in a Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 recused himself from hearing a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise V. Senthilbalaji’s wife. Minister V. Senthilbalaji was arrested early on Wednesday morning and later admitted to the Government Multi Super-Specialty Hospital in Omandurar, Chennai. Justice M. Sundar, the senior judge in the Bench, said Justice R. Sakthivel wanted to recuse himself from hearing the case and therefore it might not be possible for the Division Bench to hear the case even if it gets numbered on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. As per standing instructions issued by the High Court, with the approval of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala, the case would now have to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices J. Nisha Banu and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy. The Minister’s wife had moved the HCP alleging that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had not followed due procedures before arresting her husband early on Wednesday morning. In Brief: 110 million people displaced as Sudan, Ukraine wars add to the world refugee crisis, says U.N. Some 110 million people have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. The war in Sudan, which has displaced nearly 2 million people since April, is but the latest in a long list of crises that have led to the record-breaking figure. “It’s quite an indictment on the state of our world,” Filippo Grandi, who leads the U.N. Refugee Agency, told reporters in Geneva ahead of the publication of UNHCR’s Global Trends Report for 2022. Nitish Kumar to expand cabinet on June 16 A day after the resignation of Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman, the Nitish Kumar government is going to expand its cabinet on June 16. Ratnesh Sada, Janata Dal (United) MLA from Sonbarsa and a Dalit leader is likely to be inducted in the cabinet. The oath-taking ceremony would be held at Raj Bhavan at 10:30 a.m. Apart from Sada, few more leaders may take the oath as ministers. RSS’s farmer’s body asks Haryana government to immediately withdraw permission for testing of GM crops RSS-affiliated farmers’ body Bharatiya Kisan Sangh on June 14 wrote a letter to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanding immediately the withdrawal of the permission given by the Haryana government for any kind of testing and cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) crops. Mohini Mohan Mishra, national general secretary, BKS said that the farmers’ body was totally against the permission given by the Government of Haryana for testing and cultivation of GM crops, especially herbicide tolerant crops whose trial was allowed in the State. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 14 June 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Cyclone Biparjoy | 47,000 people shifted to safety; heavy rains, strong winds lash Saurashtra-Kutch [Gujarat government has shifted 47,000 people from vulnerable areas to safer locations in view of the likely landfall of severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy]( in Kutch on June 14. The IMD has issued a red alert for coastal districts of Kutch and Saurashtra where strong winds and heavy rains are expected when the storm makes a landfall. With the cyclone barrelling towards the Gujarat coast, parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region received heavy rains accompanied by strong winds. Nine talukas in Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar and Rajkot districts received more than 50 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending on Wednesday morning. Today morning, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a review meeting at the State Emergency Operation Centre in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar regarding the preparedness for cyclone Biparjoy. As per the details, the cyclone is expected to move nearly north-northeastwards and cross Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near JakhauPort (Gujarat) by Thursday evening as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 km per hour gusting to 150 km per hour. The Met Department has predicted extremely heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds in coastal parts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region, especially in the districts of Kutch, Porbandar and Devbhumi Dwarka. The IMD stated that the intensity of rainfall would increase as the cyclone approaches the Gujarat coast on June 15. The State authorities have deployed 18 teams of NDRF and 12 teams of SDRF in the coastal districts. Additionally, BSF, Army and Navy are also involved in the efforts to mitigate the damages the cyclone is likely to cause in wake of its landfall. In view of the cyclone, 69 trains have been cancelled, 33 trains have been short-terminated, while 27 trains short-originated as a precautionary measure, in view of safety of passengers, CPRO Western Railways said. Meanwhile, since all ports have been shut, more than 10,000 trucks are stranded in Kutch. Uttarakhand HC to hear plea against proposed mahapanchayat in Uttarkashi by right wing groups [The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights against a proposed mahapanchayat in Uttarkashi by right-wing groups]( on June 15. This came soon after the vacation Bench of the Supreme Court refused to entertain the same urgent petition and had asked the petitioners to move the High Court. A Division Bench of the Nainital High Court comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal will hear the matter on Thursday, June 15, which is also the day when the mahapanchayat was initially called by ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’. Counsel for the petitioners Sharukh Alam told the court that certain organisations had called for the mahapanchayat and have given an ultimatum to people of a particular community to leave the area before the same. She said there was urgency in the matter and the Supreme Court also granted the petitioner the liberty to approach the High Court. Earlier in the day, a vacation Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, while responding to the lawyer who mentioned the unlisted matter, said law and order was an issue of the State and hence the petitioners should move the High Court. “Why there is a distrust of the High Court? They also have jurisdiction. You should have some trust. Why this short-circuiting, we are not on merits or cause. Why do you distrust the administration?” asked Justice Amanullah. The High Court’s intervention came a day after the Uttarkashi district administration denied permission to hold the mahapanchayat and imposed Section 144 in the town where the event was scheduled to happen. As the permission was denied to ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal have now taken charge to hold the event on the proposed date and time. Anuj Valiyan, State coordinator, Bajrang Dal said “when those who rape women did not care about Section 144, why those trying to prevent rapes should worry about the same.” Local traders and businessmen associations also extended support to the mahapanchayat by calling it a ‘local issue of the hill’. President of Purola Vyapar Mandal, Brij Mohan Chauhan, told The Hindu that shops in the town would remain closed until the administration removed Section 144. “This is our local matter and we will handle it. The police and the administration should not impose such bans,” he said. Not just the Association for Protection of Civil Rights but an urgent letter petition was also filed by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and poet Ashok Vajpeyi in the apex court requesting immediate ban on the mahapanchayat. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) too had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court to immediately intervene in the escalating communal tension in the State. Trouble in Uttarakhand began last month after a minor girl was allegedly abducted by two youths — a Hindu and a Muslim — in Uttarkashi. The two accused were caught by locals. Later an FIR was lodged against them. After this incident, various right wing organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bhairav Sena started protests against the minority community. ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’, a right wing group which announced a mahapanchayat on June 15, has allegedly pasted posters across the city asking Muslims to leave the town. Several Muslim families were hence forced to leave the town fearing for their security. Even as the right wing group is gearing up for its mahapanchayat, the office-bearers of the Muslim Seva Sansthan (MSS) called a mahapanchayat in the State capital Dehradun on June 18. The aim of the mahapanchayat is to draw the State government’s attention to the administration’s failure in Uttarkashi and the “exodus” of Muslims from the hill town, the MSS said. Manipur violence | At least 11 killed in late night attack in Khamenlok [At least eleven villagers were massacred in a late night attack at Khamenlok in Imphal East district of violence-hit Manipur]( June 13, police said. Several injured persons have been admitted in government and private hospitals. Hospital sources said that the death toll will increase since many wounded persons are admitted in the ICUs. The dead bodies have been kept in the mortuary of J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Porompat in Imphal. Police said that the militants hurled several bombs at Khamenlok late on Tuesday night killing and injuring several villagers. The unhurt villagers rushed out of their houses to flee to safe areas. However, the waiting tribal militants opened fire on the escaping villagers. Additional forces were rushed to Khamenlok. After some minutes of exchange of fire, tribal militants retreated. Khamenlok has been the main battleground for the Kuki tribal militants and the non-tribal Meiteis. In the past few days several persons were killed and wounded in clashes with the militant groups who are armed with many sophisticated weapons. Reacting to the massacre of innocent villagers, the CLP leader, Okram Ibobi, said that during election time the BJP bigshots rushed to Manipur almost every second day. “Today no such leader is seen here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not spoken a word on these killings which had started from May 3. Representatives of ten political parties are planning to rush to Delhi to demand a lasting solution to the bloody confrontations”. He added that the parties are demanding a special session of the Manipur Assembly to discuss the growing bloodshed. The violence Manipur is experiencing now is “quite unprecedented”. The District Magistrates in Imphal East and Imphal West had shortened the curfew. In view of the “improved law and order situation” the curfew hours were relaxed in these two districts from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday. However, women protested against the firing of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters in the Imphal areas. Besides, some security personnel had smashed wind screens of parked cars. Some houses were also fired on, smashing their window panes. The rescheduled curfew hours in these two districts are from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. T.N. Minister Senthilbalaji arrest: Madras High Court judge recuses himself from hearing Minister’s wife’s petition [One of the two judges in a Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 recused himself from hearing a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise V. Senthilbalaji’s wife](. Minister V. Senthilbalaji was arrested early on Wednesday morning and later admitted to the Government Multi Super-Specialty Hospital in Omandurar, Chennai. Justice M. Sundar, the senior judge in the Bench, said Justice R. Sakthivel wanted to recuse himself from hearing the case and therefore it might not be possible for the Division Bench to hear the case even if it gets numbered on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. As per standing instructions issued by the High Court, with the approval of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala, the case would now have to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices J. Nisha Banu and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy. The Minister’s wife had moved the HCP alleging that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had not followed due procedures before arresting her husband early on Wednesday morning. In Brief: 110 million people displaced as Sudan, Ukraine wars add to the world refugee crisis, says U.N. [Some 110 million people have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said](. The war in Sudan, which has displaced nearly 2 million people since April, is but the latest in a long list of crises that have led to the record-breaking figure. “It’s quite an indictment on the state of our world,” Filippo Grandi, who leads the U.N. Refugee Agency, told reporters in Geneva ahead of the publication of UNHCR’s Global Trends Report for 2022. Nitish Kumar to expand cabinet on June 16 A day after the resignation of Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman, the [Nitish Kumar government is going to expand its cabinet on June 16](. Ratnesh Sada, Janata Dal (United) MLA from Sonbarsa and a Dalit leader is likely to be inducted in the cabinet. The oath-taking ceremony would be held at Raj Bhavan at 10:30 a.m. Apart from Sada, few more leaders may take the oath as ministers. RSS’s farmer’s body asks Haryana government to immediately withdraw permission for testing of GM crops [RSS-affiliated farmers’ body Bharatiya Kisan Sangh on June 14 wrote a letter to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanding immediately the withdrawal of the permission given by the Haryana government for any kind of testing and cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) crops](. Mohini Mohan Mishra, national general secretary, BKS said that the farmers’ body was totally against the permission given by the Government of Haryana for testing and cultivation of GM crops, especially herbicide tolerant crops whose trial was allowed in the State. 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