Stressing on the safety of people during floods, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered field officers to be on their toes to provide relief to the people affected by floods and asked them to ensure that relief reached the people at the earliest.

“The highly sensitive embankments should be inspected by the district magistrates and district police chiefs while the remaining embankments should be inspected by officials of the level of deputy collector and deputy superintendent of police. For a quick response, assistant engineers should be made in-charge of embankments and they should be put on 24×7 alert mode. Keep an eye on the condition of the breach in embankments during the initial days of rain so that major damage can be prevented,” Yogi said during a review meeting held here on Wednesday.

There are 523 embankments of 3,869 kilometre length constructed on various rivers in the state.

The chief minister said efforts had been made in the last five years to find a permanent solution to the problem of floods, which was a factor in extensive loss of life and property in the state. He said good work had been done by inter-departmental coordination in the last five years for the protection of public life from floods and this year also, with better coordination, quick action and better management, the safety of people should be ensured in the event of floods.

As per the government record, there are 24 districts which are in the ‘very sensitive’ category from the point of view of floods. They include Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Gorakhpur, Basti, Bahraich, Bijnor, Siddharthnagar, Ghazipur, Gonda, Ballia, Deoria, Sitapur, Balrampur, Ayodhya, Mau, Farrukhabad, Shravasti, Budaun, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Sant Kabir Nagar, Pilibhit and Barabanki.

Saharanpur, Shamli, Aligarh, Bareilly, Hamirpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Rampur, Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, Moradabad, Hardoi, Varanasi, Unnao, Lucknow, Shahjahanpur and Kasganj are in the ‘sensitive’ category.

“We have to make concerted efforts to prevent water-logging. By June 30, the work of cleaning drains should be completed,” the chief minister said.

He also directed that districts should prepare their own action plan for disaster management. “Youth should be trained in collaboration with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). Dignity kits should be provided to women and adolescent girls living in relief camps set up in case of flood disaster. Dignity kit should include sanitary pads, soap, towel, disposable bag, bucket, and mask,” the chief minister said.

He further ordered that continuous monitoring of the water level of rivers should be done. NDRF, SDRF, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and disaster management teams should be in active mode 24×7 in the affected districts. He said relief operations should not be delayed in areas affected by floods or excess rain.

“Chances of spread of diseases increase during and after floods. In such a situation, special health kits should be prepared and delivered to the districts by the Medical and Health department. There must be medicines for cholera, ORS, and fever. In case of dog bite and snake bite, the affected people should get immediate medical help. People should be told not to drink flood water. Teams of doctors should visit the relief camps,” Yogi said and added that in the event of damage to agricultural crops due to flood, the farmers should be given relief as soon as possible.