Naveen reviews flood preparedness of all departments

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Wednesday directed all departments to remain fully prepared to tackle flood as the state is expected to receive above than normal rainfall. “The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted surplus rainfall during the current year. Therefore, probability of flood this year appears very high. The thrust of the meeting was flood management and the state administration is fully prepared to face any flood like situation,” said chief minister Naveen Patnaik after heading the state level natural calamity meeting here.
The coastal districts are facing flood almost every year during monsoon.
Addressing the meeting, the chief minister directed water resources department to ensure fix of all breaches in the river embankments and to store adequate flood fighting materials near weak and vulnerable points. Now all engineers would certify about strength of river embankments.
Naveen also announced state government’s plan to open 42 more fire stations in addition to the existing 293 fire stations. Of the 10 more units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), a specialized force to tackle natural disasters, training of three teams has already been completed. “All the 10 teams would be in place very soon,” Naveen said.
“The boats available with the state port engineering organization under the special relief commissioner must also be ready with crew to undertake the relief operations,” he added. The chief minister directed the food supplies and consumer welfare department to ensure pre-positioning of adequate food materials and other essential commodities in inaccessible flood-prone areas. As around 302 people died in snake bite in Odisha in 2015-16 year, the health and family welfare department was instructed to store adequate anti-venom injections in all health care centres. The department would also check spread of epidemics. The meeting discussed regarding preparation of standard operating procedures by all departments. All departments would brief chief secretary A P Padhi about their disaster preparedness. As the state faced severe drought in last kharif, the state government has so far distributed Rs 826 crore as agriculture input subsidy.