New Delhi, June 23: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah Sunday emphasised the optimum use of satellite imagery provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by various agencies for flood and water management.
Chairing a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of flood management in New Delhi, Home Minister Shah directed the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) to complete the process of recalibrating all the equipment used in flood forecast, at the earliest.
Reviewing long-term measures to formulate a comprehensive and far-reaching policy to mitigate the menace of floods in the country, he appealed to all the states and union territories to timely implement the advisories issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for flood management.
Shah reviewed the preparations to deal with the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF).
The Home Minister also reviewed the action taken on the decisions made in the meeting held last year.
Along with this, new technologies being adopted by all the agencies and the expansion of their network for flood management were discussed during the meeting.
Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s disaster management was moving forward with a ‘zero casualty approach’.
He instructed the concerned departments to conduct a detailed study of the recent floods in Sikkim and Manipur and submit a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The Home Minister also directed to ensure that floodgates of all the major dams are in good condition.
He said that the flood monitoring centres of the CWC should follow the government’s requirements and international standards.
Shah said that the non-perennial rivers were prone to more soil erosion and siltation, resulting in floods.
He directed that efforts should be made to upgrade the forecast system of the water level of rivers for better flood management.
The Home Minister said that a natural drainage system should be an integral part of the designs of road construction to deal with inundation of roads, in case of floods.
He said that at least 50 large ponds in the Northeast should be constructed so that the water of the Brahmaputra River could be diverted and stored in those ponds.
Shah said that this would help in developing agriculture, irrigation, and tourism in those areas at a low cost and also help in tackling the floods, and, eventually benefit the local economy.
He instructed the NDMA and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to take appropriate precautionary measures to prevent incidents of forest fire.
For this, the Home Minister stressed the need to regularly create fire lines, remove dry leaves, and conduct mock drills from time to time with residents and forest personnel.
Along with this, he also asked to analyse the incidents of repeated forest fires at the same place.
Shah also asked the NDMA to prepare a detailed manual to deal with incidents of forest fires.
He directed that the IMD’s alerts regarding lightning strikes should be disseminated to the people on time through SMS, TV, FM radio stations, and other mediums.
The Home Minister emphasised the need to integrate weather, rainfall, and flood warning-related apps developed by various departments so that their benefits could reach the targeted population.
He directed that since the community was the first responder at the time of any disaster including flood, there should be coordination and integration in the community awareness programmes being run by various agencies so that they could have maximum impact.
During the meeting, IMD, CWC, NDRF, and NDMA made detailed presentations.
The departments concerned gave information about the action taken on the instructions given by the Home Minister during the flood review meeting held last year.
They also apprised about their preparedness for the current monsoon season and future action plan.
Union Minister for Jal Shakti, C R Paatil; Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai; Union Home Secretary, Secretaries of Ministries and Departments of River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Road Transport and Highways, Chairperson Railway Board, Members and Heads of Departments of NDMA, Directors General of NDRF and IMD, Chairman NHAI, senior officials from NRSC and other concerned departments including CWC also attended the meeting.