Surat: In the wake of landfall of cyclone Ockhi in Surat district of Gujarat late tonight, Instruction has been issued to 11 major Oil, Gas and Chemical companies situated in coastal belt of this southern district including the public sector ONGC at Hazira to take special precaution to ensure maximum safety for non-leakage of gas owing to the storm.

Collector Surat Mahendra Patel today said that these companies have been asked to take measures to ensure that any kind of gas leak did not take place or incident of fire did not happen.

‘We have not asked them to close operations but the off shore operations including that of ONGC would certainly be closed as precautionary measure,’ he said.
Though It was not possible for many of them which work 24×7 to shut down the operation completely yet all the safety measures were being taken by them, he added.

The collector said that survey has been conducted in the coastal areas and though no shifting of residents have taken place yet preparedness for the same in case of need was there.

Notably, the district is witnessing light to moderate rain and heavily cloudy weather since yesterday owing to the approaching cyclone which was likely to convert in to a deep depression by the time it makes a landfall somewhere on Surat coast late tonight.

Several election rallies and other events have also been cancelled owing to bad weather.

DeshGujarat