In view of mercury dipping across the State, Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh convened a meeting with the district magistrates through video conferencing in the secretariat on Friday. He instructed them to identify the places which get disconnected after it snows there and check equipments required in case of disaster. He asked them to keep SDRF personnel ready for any kind of emergency. Besides, they must check the list of the equipments at the levels of police stations, tehsils, blocks, villages and districts, he stressed, while adding that they must have the malfunctioning equipments promptly repaired.
The officers concerned must send requisitions for the equipments required for rescue and relief operations if any kind of calamity occurs anywhere in the State, he said.
Stressing on firming up an intensive plan to strengthen telecommunication network byDecember 10, CS said if needed, the officers might convene a meeting with BSNl and other telecommunication companies separately to have all the macro and micro details incorporated in the upcoming plans.
He also asked them to update their seven desk system in which the contact numbers of all the officers and the employees are mentioned. “This would come handy in case of emergency,” Singh said.
He also laid emphasis on conducting mock drills. Besides, he asked them to store enough of food grains so that in case the connections snap during the winter there is no scarcity of essential items like wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene. “Such items should be stored keeping in view any eventuality that might happen any time till March 2016,” he said.
He also asked the disaster management department to deploy one crane each in the disaster- prone districts like Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi.
During the meeting, Principal Secretary Home Umakant Panwar, Principal Secretary Ranbir Singh, Disaster Management Secretary Amit Negi, Secretary Social Welfare Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh, IG SDRF Sanjay Gunjyal, BRO, ITBP and weather department officials were present.