From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jun 19: With monsoon season setting in, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday held a video conference with the Deputy Commissioners of 20 districts and their in-charge ministers on the precautions to be taken in the event of floods and said the State Government has already provided a sum of Rs 1,000 crore to the deputy commissioners of the flood prone districts to deal with the situation and disaster management.
As many as 1,710 villages in the 20 districts have been identified as likely to be affected by floods in the event of heavy and continuous rain, the Chief Minister said and disclosed that the State Government has already prepared a State Flood Management Action Plan 2021 for the first time.
State-level meetings to review the seasonal situation under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Disaster management) and Development Commissioner will be held once in every 15 days. Gram panchayat level disaster management action plan has also been developed and training is imparted regarding its implementation.
Deputy Chief Ministers Govind M Karjol and Laxman Savadi, Revenue Minister R Ashok, Home and Law Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Mines and Geology Minister Murugesh R Nirani, Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar, Chief Secretary P Ravikumar, Additional Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma and other senior officials participated in the meeting from Bengaluru.
Inter- State coordination has been established to facilitate information exchange regarding the flow of water to reservoirs required in order to manage flood situation. Task force, operational teams and WhatsApp groups have been created to manage flood situation, the Chief Minister said.
Yediyurappa also made it clear that the State Government has already identified role and responsibilities of various departments at different levels have been identified and flood forecast cell has been established at the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. Material required for rescue operations has been mobilized and provided.
NDRF Teams for DK, Kodagu, Raichuru, Belagavi
In addition, the Chief Minister said 4 NDRF teams are deployed for rescue operations to Raichuru, Kodagu, Belagavi and Dakshina Kannada districts along with SDRF teams consisting of more than 200 personnel are strengthened with necessary equipment for the rescue operations.
The Chief Minister instructed the Deputy Commissioners to identify the flood prone villages in the district level and make necessary arrangements to tackle the situation. People and livestock should be protected on priority while taking precautions pertaining to Covid 19 pandemic simultaneously.
Setting up of helplines, telephone and other communication tools should be kept in order and in case of emergencies, necessary materials can be purchased as per requirement. Suitable measures should also be taken to set up relief centres with necessary infrastructure and to provide medical facilities to the people rescued from floods. Assistance can be sought from regional organisations, volunteers and local resources can also be used for flood management.
Instructions have been given to various departments to work hand in hand to minimise the impact of the floods and protects lives and belongings of the people in the possible floods. Residents of the villages, who were shifted due to floods are hesitant to return to the shifted villages. Necessary action should be taken to provide proper Infrastructure to such villages by taking those people to confidence, he added.