Search the Internet          Tips

'Anjar is so devastated that the debris clearing work will take 35 days'

Barely an hour ago, rediff.com received the devastating report that the army had sealed the town of Anjar, all its 35,000 inhabitants are feared dead. This township, along with New Anjar, had been adopted by Reliance on
January 27, a day after the killer earthquake struck Gujarat.

On January 29, Senior Editor Sheela Bhatt spoke to Bharat N Desai, vice-president (construction) for Reliance Petroleum who was on-site at New Anjar about Reliance's plans for the township.

How is the work proceeding?

Most of the houses here were built of bricks and concrete. In old Anjar, all the houses have collapsed. We want to begin by removing the debris of old Anjar. We have brought earthmovers, JCBs, 30 dumpers and 20 gas cutters from our plant. The air pressure that these kind of equipment use to function will help us break columns, pillars and walls.

How did Reliance come in the picture?

The senior secretary of the Gujarat government, G Subba Rao, was in the Bhuj control room when we got in touch with him on January 27 to inform him that Reliance decided to adopt Anjar.

Reliance group president, V V Bhatt, already has the experience of building the township of Jamnagar. He is a civil engineer. When we came here, the situation was horrible. The people were dazed; they were eagerly waiting for somebody to help them.

On Saturday itself, our equipment started reaching Anjar. It was a journey that took us more than 20 hours because of the damage sustained to the only bridge that connects Saurashtra and Kutch. But, in Reliance, we don't stop. Where there is a will, there is a way. That is the Reliance way of working.

Our seniors came in choppers to Bhuj. As we knew the phones were not working, we got our satellite phones. We have already prepared a complete map of Anjar and marked out areas where we would begin to clear the debris. Our security officer, H S Pannu, is an ex-military man and he is helping us in this operation.

Anjar is so devastated that the debris clearing work will take 35 days. The debris comprises of heavy material like bricks, steel, tiles and cement. We have 2,000 people here for this work; their willpower is strong and we will achieve what we have set out to do. We have already set up 10 tents; many more are coming up. We have also set up two kitchens to cater to our team. The total cost of this whole operation will be Rs 250 million.

The Complete Coverage | List of earthquake sites

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report