The State Government wants timely technical information on the calamities like flood and cyclone.
The Government made this demand at a high-level meeting chaired by Development Commissioner UN Behera here attended by the Central Water Commission Chairman, the Director General of India Meteorological Department (IMD) and senior officials of the NDRF.
The meeting was held in Odisha as October is identified as the period when cyclones usually hit the State and Andhra Pradesh.
"We have requested the visiting team to provide us timely technical forecast for smooth handling of calamities. The State can easily draw possible inundation maps ahead of the floodwater rushing into villages if it is provided with digital information in advance by the Centre," Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) GVV Sarma told reporters after the meeting.
The State Government also pointed out how it is facing difficulties in managing floods in Baleswar and Bhadrak districts due to lack of information on the release of water by the dam authorities in Jharkhand, Sarma said.
A proper coordination between the CWC and the IMD on rainfall and water release from the dams and passing of information to the Odisha Government could reduce floods in the two districts, he said.
The State Government also wanted the Centre to modify its data policy and share certain vital and digital information with Odisha to further smoothen the disaster management.
Though the State Government has been seeking certain vital information, the Centre refuses to part with technical data on the plea of data policy.
“It is all right that the Centre does not want to make public certain data, but it should share those information with the State for the sake of disaster management,” a senior official of Revenue and Disaster Management Department said.
Speedy and accurate information ahead of the calamity really saves hundreds of lives as has been witnessed during the cyclone Phailin in 2013 and Hudhud in 2014.