Hyderabad: The Telangana government has constituted a high-level committee for taking steps to prevent loss of life and reduce property losses in flood-affected areas in the Krishna and Godavari basins. The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week, based on which the disaster response mechanism in the rural areas will be strengthened.
The high-level committee comprises the Hyderabad Disaster Response Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) commissioner, the disaster response commissioner, the director general of the fire department, the director of the Integrated Command Control Centre (ICCC), and the commissioners of medical and health, irrigation, roads and buildings departments.
Revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy held a meeting at the Dr BR Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat with all the district collectors and higher officials on Thursday, June 12, on the steps to be taken to address possible floods, given the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting more than normal rainfall this monsoon season.
Reddy directed the officials to take steps to permanently relocate the people living in the flood-affected areas and safer areas, and to build Indiramma houses for them on a war footing. He said the ICCC would be given user IDs for monitoring and sending alerts to the districts in case of any extreme weather events.
He asked the collectors to prepare the flood loss mitigation plans as per the local weather factors by June 30.
He directed them to conduct awareness programmes in flood-affected areas in collaboration with volunteers, the national disaster response force, the fire and the state disaster response force.
He said flood response plans needed to be prepared in the vulnerable mandals, with emergency evacuation procedures, location of relief camps, and helpline numbers in case of floods. He asked the officials to arrange for boats, life jackets, emergency and dry food kits in advance.
Irrigation officials have been asked to inspect bunds, small and medium canals, and make repairs wherever needed.
Revenue, irrigation, police, medical and health departments have been asked to work in coordination, and control rooms had to be set up to monitor the situation. Station rescue teams will be set up in high-risk areas and trained on speedy evacuation and emergency response in the event of floods.
Using public address systems, officials will spread awareness among the public, while mobile health teams equipped with essential medicines, water purification tablets, and sanitation kits will be deployed for use during emergencies.
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