CM reviews measures to deal with forest fires
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 8 May: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami chaired a review meeting at the Secretariat here, today, on action being taken to prevent and control forest fires, as well as the state’s preparations in view of the upcoming monsoon season. Taking action against certain negligent forest officials in dealing with forest fires, the government today also suspended 10 senior forest officials and took action against 7 more in this regard on the CM’s orders.
Later, the CM also reached Rudraprayag and led a drive to collect pine needles from the forests and to create public awareness.
At the meeting, the CM asserted that the BJP leaders and workers and other public representatives should participate in the firefighting activities and contribute towards removal of pine needles from the forests which are a major cause of fires in the forests, particularly in the hills. During the meeting, the Chief Minister directed that all secretaries should be given the responsibility of different districts to ensure total control of forest fires. He said that that all the secretaries should visit the respective districts and conduct on-site inspection of the areas affected by forest fires and take effective steps to stop forest fires.
On the instructions of CM Dhami, 10 Forest Department personnel who were found to be negligent in preventing forest fires have been suspended. Instructions have been given to take disciplinary action against some other personnel also. In all, action has been taken against 17 such forest officials. Dhami instructed all the District Magistrates to seek public cooperation for effective prevention and control of forest fires. He asserted that strict action be taken as per rules against all those found involved in incidents of setting fire in forests. To prevent spread of forest fires, response time should be minimised. The Chief Minister added that an effective plan should be made for collecting Pirul (Pine Needles) from forests in order to ensure better control of forest fires. Pirul collection centres should be set up at the earliest. Help of the Cooperative Department should also be taken in this. He added that the cash amount given to the people for Pirul collection should also be increased.
During the meeting, the CM also reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Monsoon season. It may be recalled that Uttarakhand is very vulnerable to natural disasters and landslides particularly during the monsoon months. The Chief Minister directed that the process of cleaning, dredging and channelisation of drains should be completed before the monsoon. Construction and repair work of security and retaining walls along the river banks should be completed on time. He directed that safety audits of all old bridges should be conducted at the earliest. In view of the rainy season, arrangements for bailey bridges should be made in sensitive areas. He added that a coordination committee of departments should be formed to know the current status of depth and area of all the dams in the state. It should also be assessed what changes have come from the time of its construction till the present time.
The CM also reviewed various preparations of the Health Department and efforts to deal with the brinking water crisis during the summer season. He directed that, before the start of the monsoon season, complete preparations should be made by the health department. Awareness ought to be spread to prevent dengue, malaria and other water-borne diseases. Special care should be taken of cleanliness and sanitation. In view of the possibility of disasters during the monsoon season, rapid action teams of the health department need to be kept ready, he asserted. Dhami urged the officers to work with a proactive approach to solve the problems of the people. All necessary arrangements should be ensured for adequate supply of drinking water during the summer months. Adequate alternative arrangements should be made to ensure supply of clean drinking water. Where there is a problem of drinking water, it should be supplied by tankers and mules. For this, all the executing agencies need to work in coordination, he observed.
The Chief Minister directed that all arrangements be kept smooth and ready in view of the Chardham Yatra. It should be ensured that people receive alerts related to weather information through SMSs. The information system should be strengthened for exchange of weather related information for Char Dham and other areas too. For the convenience of the pilgrims, all departments should ensure better arrangements at their level. Keeping in mind, public convenience, maximum use of modern technology should be made. In view of the possibility of disasters, adequate arrangements for JCBs should be made at sensitive places and Chardham Yatra routes.
Present at the meeting were Vice Chairman, Infrastructure Monitoring Council, Vishwas Dawar, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Chief Forest Conservator Dr Dhananjay Mohan, Secretaries R Meenakshi Sundaram, Shailesh Bagoli, Arvind Hyanki, Ranjit Sinha, Dilip Jawalkar, Vinay Shankar Pandey and Dr R Rajesh Kumar, ADG AP Anshuman, Director General, Information, Banshidhar Tiwari, Heads of Departments of various related departments and all the District Magistrates through virtual medium.
