In view of frequent occurrences of drought, the State Government has decided to entrust the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) the responsibility of drought management from this year.
A decision to this effect was taken at the governing body meeting of the OSDMA held under chairmanship of Chief Secretary AP Padhi at the State Secretariat here on Saturday.
“The OSDMA has been asked to prepare a protocol on drought management since Odisha is affected by drought every 3-4 years,” Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mahapatra told reporters after the meeting.
He said the protocol would be jointly prepared by departments like Panchayati Raj, Water Resources, Rural Development and Agriculture which are associated with the OSDMA soon after the IMD predicts deficient rainfall. The IMD usually gives its prediction in May and June whose impact is felt in October and November.
He said if a deficit rainfall is forecast for specific areas with no possibility of raising crops, the Government would not wait for crop cutting time to announce about crop loss.
“We should plan in advance and start supplying seeds to farmers without waiting till October and November. The protocol will fix the timing of our action plan,” Mohapatra said.
The SRC said the protocol would be of much help to the concerned departments who would take up labour-intensive programmes if there is deficit rainfall.
He too informed that the cyclone shelter management committees will be headed by Sarpanches. Earlier, the BDOs were heading these committees.
There are a total of 850 cyclone shelters in the state at present.
This apart it was decided that 10 more Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) units will become operational from April 1 this year.
“Since the Home Department has confirmed the selection of 500 personnel as the members of the new ODRAF units, we will provide all equipment and funds to the Additional DG, ODRAF as per the requirement,” Mahapatra said.