Chief Secretary K. Vijayanand has directed the officers of the respective departments to be fully prepared with appropriate action plans to deal with any disaster, such as cyclones and floods, that may occur during the southwest monsoon.

On Thursday, Mr. Vijayanand held a video-conference with various departments and the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, NDRF, and other Central government departments from the Secretariat on monsoon preparedness.

Speaking on the occasion, he stated that as the southwest monsoon had already arrived, the departments concerned should be fully prepared with advance action plans to deal with any disasters that might arise due to heavy rains or cyclones in the coming days.

There were situations where rivers, streams and canals overflowed. The officials of the State Disaster Management and other departments must assess the potential and coordinate with Vassar Labs in this regard. Similarly, the State Disaster Management and RTGS should work in coordination with ISRO, he said.

Mr. Vijayanand said in the event of cyclones, heavy rains and floods, efforts should be made to minimise the loss of property and lives, and establish normal conditions promptly with the respective department-wise action plans.

In particular, the Water Resources Department should take flood monitoring measures such as strengthening all flood embankments, keeping the necessary sandbags ready and intensifying patrolling on floodplains.

The R&B Department should provide and keep available the necessary earth moving equipment, cranes and power shovels so that traffic could be restored in a timely manner if trees fall on national highways and other major roads and traffic is disrupted.

The PR&RD Department should keep standby generators available in all protected fresh water supply schemes and all pipelines should be free from leakages.

The Municipal Administration Department should complete the silting work in drains and canals in urban areas promptly. The Energy Department should keep a sufficient number of standby generators, tree cutters and electricity poles ready.

He said that the Medical and Health Department should keep adequate medicines available and take steps to raise awareness among the public about appropriate precautionary measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in flooded areas.

The Civil Supplies Department should keep adequate stocks of various essential commodities available at the respective MLS points, he said.

Mr. Vijayanand told Revenue Principal Secretary Jayalakshmi that the increased compensation (Scale of Finance) G.O. No. 1 and GO No. 13 provided to victims in the event of disasters be circulated to all departments.

He suggested that department-wise reviews be conducted once in 15 days on the measures to be taken on issues to effectively deal with disasters.