
20 killed in lightning strikes amid unseasonal rains in Gujarat; Amit Shah expresses grief
The Hindu
Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the deaths due to bad weather and lightning in various cities of Gujarat on Sunday and said the local administration was engaged in relief work.
Twenty people have been killed in lightning strikes in different parts of Gujarat during widespread unseasonal rainfall in the State, an official said on November 27.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the deaths due to bad weather and lightning in various cities of Gujarat on Sunday and said the local administration was engaged in relief work.
As per an official of the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), a total of 20 rain-related deaths have been reported so far from different parts of Gujarat.
All the fatalities were attributed to lightning strikes during unseasonal rainfall which battered the State on Sunday.
Four persons died in Dahod district, three in Bharuch, two in Tapi, and one each in Ahmedabad, Amreli, Banaskantha, Botad, Kheda, Mehsana, Panchmahal, Sabarkantha, Surat, Surendranagar and Devbhumi Dwarka, the SEOC official said.
Union minister Amit Shah in a post on X on Sunday night said, "I am deeply saddened by the news of the death of many people due to bad weather and lightning in various cities of Gujarat. I express my deepest condolences for the irreparable loss to those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy. The local administration is engaged in relief work, praying for the speedy recovery of the injured."
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said the rain activity is expected to abate on Monday.

In , the grape capital of India and host of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela every 12 years, environmental concerns over a plan to cut 1,800 trees for the proposed Sadhugram project in the historic Tapovan area have sharpened political fault lines ahead of local body elections. The issue has pitted both Sena factions against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra. While Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief, and Uddhav Thackeray, chief of the Shiv Sena (UBT), remain political rivals, their parties have found rare common ground in Tapovan, where authorities propose clearing trees across 34 acres to build Sadhugram and a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) hub, as part of a ₹300-crore infrastructure push linked to the pilgrimage.












