This has compounded the problem of lack of civic amenities. After the quake, two senior officials have been asked to oversee municipal works. One of them is Ashwin Mehta, deputy municipal commissioner, Surat. Surat was once considered one of the filthiest Indian cities. However, the outbreak of plague in 1995 led to a positive transformation in the standards of civic amenities.
Officials expect a similar miracle here.
Police on Friday arrested an astrologer here for making dire predictions of another earthquake looming in the quake-ravaged Gujarat. The grim warning by Ambalal Patel was published on the front pages of prominent regional dailies in Gujarat a week after thousands died in an earthquake which decimated whole cities. Anywhere between 30,000 to 100,000 are estimated to have died in the earthquake in Gujarat last Friday.