Dehradun: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan held a review meeting with all the districts regarding monsoon preparations and gave necessary guidelines. He said that all departments should strengthen their preparations to effectively deal with possible disasters during the monsoon period. If some work remains to be done, then complete them on time.
In the meeting held at the Secretariat, the commissioners of both the divisions and all the District Magistrates participated online in the meeting.
The Chief Secretary said that while pre-disaster preparation is important to face disasters, quick response time is also very important. The better our response time, the more effectively we will be able to carry out relief and rescue operations during disasters and provide relief to the general public. He directed to organize mock drills in waterlogging and flood affected areas of Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Champawat to effectively deal with the problem of waterlogging and other contingencies during the upcoming monsoon season.
Chardham Yatra is also going on in the state, so it is necessary for all the line departments to remain on alert 24 hours a day. He said that the relief and rescue teams and various departments should ensure that in case of any disaster, their teams reach the spot quickly and perform their respective tasks without wasting time.
In the meeting, Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman told about the preparations of the Disaster Management Department regarding the upcoming monsoon season. He said that nodal officers of various line departments have been deployed in the State Emergency Operation Center. He informed that an amount of Rs 162 crore has been released to the districts from the State Disaster Relief Fund and the State Sector for reconstruction and recovery works and for relief and rescue works. The process of releasing Rs 1 crore per district under the head of preparation and capacity development is in progress. Funds have also been allocated to various departments.
Desilting of rivers is necessary
The Chief Secretary said that a major reason for floods and waterlogging during the monsoon period is the excessive accumulation of silt in rivers. He said that desilting of rivers in forest areas is necessary. He directed the District Magistrates to resolve the problems faced in desilting forest areas by talking to the government and taking action.
Help should be provided to disaster affected people as soon as possible
The Chief Secretary said that providing relief to the general public after a disaster should be the first priority of the government and administration. He directed to provide assistance to the disaster affected people as soon as possible. He directed to conduct reconstruction work at a fast pace after the disaster and to form a survey team at the Panchayat level to assess the damage. He also directed to provide adequate ambulances to the districts on the demand of the District Magistrates.
There is no shortage of funds but it should not be misused
The Chief Secretary said that there is no shortage of funds for disaster related works. All the District Magistrates should ensure that whatever amount is being provided by the government in the disaster fund, it should be utilized 100%. Also, it should be ensured that there is no misuse of the money in any way.
Other necessary guidelines issued by the Chief Secretary:
- Flood prone areas should be identified and people living in such areas should be displaced to safer places as per the weather forecast.
- In view of the possibility of flood etc., relief camps/safe places should be identified in advance.
- In case of flood, adequate number of boats, rafts should be arranged.
- Arrangements should be made for food and treatment of people in the relief camp.
- Selection of safe place for animals and arrangement of their proper fodder and treatment.
- Availability of JCB and other resources should be ensured to open the road immediately when it is closed.
- Storage of Bailey bridges in view of alternative arrangements. • Storage of food grains, petrol, diesel, LPG, CNG.
- In case of road closure in remote areas, storage of essential commodities should be ensured with local shopkeepers.
- Storage of essential medicines for proper management of water-borne infectious diseases during monsoon.
- Data collection of pregnant women and identification of nearby private/community health centres for their delivery.
- Proper storage of equipment in case of power and water supply disruption.
Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, SN Pandey, C Ravishankar, Dhiraj Garbyal, Additional Chief Executive Officer Administration Anand Swaroop, Additional Chief Executive Officer Implementation DIG Rajkumar Negi, Joint Chief Executive Officer Mohd. Obaidullah Ansari, Under Secretary Jyotirmay Tripathi and other officers were present in the meeting.
