According to officials at the Central Water Commission, the latest discharge is no cause for concern as the catchment areas of the river received only light rainfall since Tuesday morning. The authorities began releasing water at the rate of 2 lakh cusec from 2 p.m. on Tuesday and it may go up to 3.4 lakh cusec. The peak discharge may last for about two hours.

The administration received an advisory forecast from the CWC office at 11 a.m. on Tuesday saying that starting 10 p.m. the intake in the Ukai reservoir would be 450 MCM. Chief engineer and joint secretary B M Rao said normally the river could accommodate 3.66 lakh cusec, a volume not enough to pose any threat. Given that the level in Ukai was more than the full reservoir level of 345 feet the state government did not want to take any chances, a government officer said.

Four bodies were recovered from the Tapi river near Hazira, while one was recovered from behind the Circuit House, taking the toll to 24. The bodies were sent for post mortem to the New Civil Hospital.

Health Commissioner R M Patel said seven cases of gastro enteritis were reported from the city areas and 11 from gram panchayat areas on Monday. He could not provide Tuesday's figure. A team from the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases reached Surat on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Union Textile Minister Kashiram Rana, who returned to Surat from Ahmedabad, said he had not demanded the transfer of district collector R M Shah and municipal commissioner S Jagadeesan, as was reported in some newspapers on Tuesday.

He said all he had stated was the pace of work was slack in the beginning but increased after a couple of days. Rana said the 11-member team led by chief secretary L N S Mukundan, which rounded off its visit to Surat on Monday, would brief the chief minister on its findings.

Meanwhile, representatives of various medical associations today attended a meeting convened by Surat Municipal Corporation and decided that representatives of the associations would meet every month to discuss health related issue in the city.

The Surat branch of the Indian Medical Association has suggested that the medical syllabus be updated to incorporate current disease profiles. Chlorine tablets should be mixed into all water tanks entering the city from outside SMC limits.

Municipal Commissioner S Jagadeesan said that the SMC's medical team would work for one month and paramedical staff conduct door-to-door surveys to check if the people show symptoms of any disease.