In view of the ongoing monsoon season and threat of disaster perpetrated by rains, the State administration has imposed a ban on the leaves of all field employees of the State Government till September 15. Informing about the preparedness of the State Government to deal with disaster, the secretary Disaster Management Amit Negi told newsmen here on Tuesday that administration is fully alert in view of heavy rains in the State. He informed that the entire State Government machinery is geared up for any disaster and said that emphasis is being made on minimising the response time. “ We have directed the district offices to strictly maintain a register in which exact time of information of any disaster should be noted. Similarly the time required for dissemination of the information to different departments by the office and time taken by them for the respond to the call would be noted,’’ he said. Negi said that all chronic land slide zones have been identified and required machinery and personnel are deployed near all these zones. To deal with the Flash floods, the secretary asserted that flood check posts with communication facilities have been set up with shelter points for the affected people. He claimed that 74 satellite phones have been put in field for faster communication and informed that more such phones would be purchased soon. On delayed response shown by the Helicopter companies in the recent bus tragedy in Dhumakot of Pauri district, the secretary informed that the issue of payment of these companies has been sorted out. He said that arrangements to keep one Helicopter each in Garhwal and Kumaon ready for quick response for disaster are being made.
Negi added that the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary are continuously monitoring all the necessary preparations. He said that telephone number of junior engineers, assistant engineers and driver of mechanical excavators have been made available to the disaster management centres and all tehsil headquarters.
Alternate trek routes have been made at places on the national highway which are identified as chronic landslides zones so that vehicles on both sides on any such landslides could be arranged for transhipment of passengers, he added.
The Inspector General ( IG) State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Sanjay Gunjyal said 31 teams have been deployed at different parts of the state and a total of 7500 policemen deployed in far off posts have been provided training in disaster management. The Secretary information Pankaj Pandey and Additional Secretary, Disaster Management Savin Bansal were also present on the occasion.