'Fani' fury weakens, heavy rainfall predicted in Odisha, AP, Bengal, northeast: MHA
New Delhi: The eye of cyclonic storm 'Fani' has "completely moved into land" by 10 am Friday weakening its fury, but heavy rainfall is still predicted in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and parts of the northeastern states, the Home Ministry said Friday.
According to the National Emergency Response Centre, under the home ministry, power and telecommunication lines in Puri district of Odisha are completely down and restoration work is on.
Rescuers belonging to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Navy, Coast Guard, Army and Air Force have been deployed in a mass operations, closely monitored by the central government.
"The landfall process started Friday 8 am close to Puri and the eye of the system has completely moved into land by 10 am. The 'extremely severe' cyclonic storm 'Fani' weakened into 'very severe' cyclonic storm and lay centred at 11:30 am about 10 km to east of Bhubaneswar and 30 km to the south of Cuttack," a home ministry statement said.
Moderate rainfall is expected at most places, heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rains at isolated places over coastal Odisha and adjoining districts of interior parts of the state on Friday.
Most places in Odisha is likely to receive light to moderate rains on Saturday with heavy to very heavy rainfall occurring at isolated places in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts.
In Andhra Pradesh, light to moderate rainfall is likely at most places with heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places over Srikakulam district on Friday. Also light to moderate rainfall is likely in West Bengal on Friday, with heavy to very heavy showers at a few places and extremely heavy rains at isolated places.
Light to moderate rainfall is expected at most places and heavy rains at isolated places over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on Saturday.
Cyclone 'Fani' is being monitored by the home ministry at the highest level round the clock. The ministry is in constant touch with the state chief secretaries and relief commissioners and central agencies concerned, the statement said.
Helpline number 1938 has been activated in the home ministry control room. The NDRF has deployed 60 teams each comprising 45 personnel while 25 teams are kept on standby.
The Indian Navy has deployed six ships on the eastern seaboard for relief operations and five ships, six aircraft and seven helicopters have been kept on standby for rescue and relief operations in Visakhapatnam.
The Indian Air Force has deployed two C-17 aircraft while two C-130 and four AN-32 planes have been kept on standby for relief tasks. The Indian Coast Guard has deployed six ships and six more ships are kept on standby.
The Indian Army has kept three columns on standby at Gopalpur, two columns and two Engineering Task Force (ETFs) at Ranchi and four columns and four ETFs at Panagarh.
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PoK will 'reintegrate with India soon', says head of All India Imam Organisation
Srinagar (PTI): Chief Imam of the All India Imam Organisation, Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, on Friday said Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) would "very soon" be reintegrated with India.
"I want to say one thing to our neighbouring country from standing here in Kashmir that PoK, which is an integral part of India, will definitely rejoin India because the people of PoK want to have a referendum there," Ilyasi told reporters here.
He claimed that the residents of PoK are keen to reintegrate with India, citing the development and prosperity witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir.
"God willing, their 'ghar wapsi' will take place soon. It is the people there who want it. They are happy to see the development of Kashmir. Seeing how Kashmir is progressing today, PoK will be rejoined with India very soon," he said.
The chief Imam said he was very happy to see a "transformed" Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370.
"It has become a new Kashmir. Today's Kashmir has become excellent; there is prosperity throughout, and tourism has increased. The people here are prosperous. There was a time when young people and children here used to throw stones. Today, they have pens in their hands. They are studying," he said.
Referring to last year's terror attack in Baisaran meadows in Pahlagam that left 25 tourists and a local pony handler dead, Ilyasi said tourism had briefly declined after the incident but urged people to visit the region.
"I want to tell everyone that they should visit Kashmir as there is no atmosphere of fear now," he said.
On the conflict in West Asia, he said war benefits no one and expressed hope for peace.
"Wars harm everyone; they are a sign of destruction. I have hopes from our country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, and God willing, he will mediate, and the war will end soon... there will be peace and tranquillity," he said.
