By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 19 Apr: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, today, directed the officials concerned to make all preparations for disaster management well before the upcoming monsoon season. He was chairing a meeting on disaster management at the Secretariat, here.
He said that all the departments concerned and the local administration should be ready to deal with the challenge in an effective manner. He said that areas prone to disaster ought to be identified at the earliest. Alternate routes also should be arranged in places prone to disaster. In case of damage to the roads, restoration of traffic movement ought to be a high priority.
The CM added there is a need to also ensure that the communication systems are kept functional and well maintained as the communication systems are usually disrupted during disaster. Dhami said that special attention should also be paid to cleaning the drains in the plains of the state in order to prevent water logging in the cities during rain.
The Chief Minister emphasised that the disaster management system ought to be further strengthened. Arrangements have to be made for the rehabilitation of families from the disaster-prone areas at the earliest. The disaster-affected people ought to get the compensation amount under the Disaster Management Act at the earliest. He and warned the officials that no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.
He gave the assurance that there would be no shortage of funds for reconstruction works in the areas affected by the disaster. He directed the officers that reconstruction work be a top priority.
Dhami also observed that public cooperation was also very important to deal with any kind of disaster. People in disaster prone areas need to be given training in disaster management. Those who do commendable work during the disaster should also be honoured. He also stressed upon the need to raise the number of personnel in SDRF.
During the meeting, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed the officials to ensure that the supply of drinking water and electricity is smooth during the summer and monsoon period. He observed that there are many complaints about the interruption of drinking water and electricity supply, and added that the responsibility of the officials should be fixed to resolve these problems. Every effort is required to prevent incidents of forest fire during summers. Along with public cooperation, people also should be made aware about preventing fires. The Chief Minister directed all the district magistrates to get all the disaster control rooms at district and tehsil levels fully activated before the onset of monsoon. Necessary equipment should be maintained and made available. In case of need for any equipment or any other requirement, the government should be informed well in time. He further directed the officials to ensure adequate arrangement of foodgrains during the monsoon period in the disaster sensitive areas and hill districts.
The Chief Minister reminded that Uttarakhand is a disaster prone state. Therefore, it is even more important to ensure that all the departments work in coordination so that there is minimum loss of life and property during disasters. He also stressed on the need for improvement of weather forecasting by the Meteorological Department as this is crucial to minimising losses during the disasters. He said that people, cattle and property could be saved by receiving accurate weather forecasts well in advance. The Chief Minister said that Doppler Radar should be started at the Surkanda Devi site soon and installation of another Doppler Radar in Lansdowne be expedited.
Those present at the meeting included Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu, DGP Ashok Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Secretaries SA Murugeshan, Nitesh Jha, Dilip Jawalkar, Shailesh Bagoli, Commissioner, Garhwal, Ravinath Raman, Commissioner, Kumaon, Sushil Kumar and all the District Magistrates and other officers concerned through video conference.
