Bengaluru: If precautionary measures are taken from past flood experience, we can save life. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah suggested that the District Administration should do more in this regard in a video interaction with District Collectors and Chief Executive Officers of Zilla Panchayat to review the state’s weather, rainfall and agricultural activities.
CM Siddaramaiah said, many farmers cannot be shifted from one place to other when floods occur. Take action to relocate as soon as there is a flood forecast. There are widespread complaints from the people that the houses built as alternatives by the previous Government are not fit for anyone to live in. Therefore, he gave a clear warning that more importance should be given on taking necessary precautionary measures.
More attention should be paid to avoid accidents. He suggested that the District Collector should inform people and convince people to relocate to avoid loss of lives in places prone to frequent floods. He advised the District Administration to take action to prevent people from going near water. He said that people should be warned about this and work should be done to create awareness to avoid loss of life.
To a certain extent, the authorities have advance information about the places where landslides may occur. A lot of loss of life can be avoided if there is coordination between police, revenue, irrigation and rural development departments.
Departments will have information about the places of landslides. He instructed the officials to act with care.
War rooms were removed long ago in Udupi District. A lot of disasters have been avoided by this. But Minister In-Charge Lakshmi Hebbalkar brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that 9 deaths occurred due to trouble and other rain accidents. Appreciating the precautionary measures, the Chief Minister said that similar measures are necessary in all districts.
64 people died from January 1 to July 25. They have been provided immediate relief. But he questioned the district officials whether many of these disasters could have been avoided if the District Administration had been alert. Concerned authorities should hold a daily press conference about the possibility of rain and heavy rain. It should be advised not to go in slippery places and not to cross overflowing rivers. He said that more efforts should be made to prevent death.
It is already known that Anganawadi, school buildings and hospital buildings are dilapidated. The information about which buildings are leaking is also known in advance. The Chief Minister questioned why action was not taken earlier in spite of allotment of money for repair, relocation and repairs, and warned that such indifference and neglect could not be tolerated.
No shortage of grants
The grant is available in the PD account of each Deputy Commissioner. Grants are also available under SDRF. Take immediate action for repairs. If more funding is needed send a request. The Minister In-Charge of the district supervises all the happenings of the district. The Chief Minister suggested that the district level officials must remain in the district headquarters.