Amit Shah reviews preparedness to deal with floods, heatwaves

At a high-level meeting on Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the country's preparedness to deal with potential floods and heatwaves and underlined that efforts should be made to achieve zero-casualty disaster management. Shah said at least 60 lakes should be included in the plan to develop an early-warning system for 30 high-risk lakes in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim with the National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) support, according to a government statement. Shah also said there should be an integrated system for flood forecasting at both the central and state levels. Flood crisis management teams (FCMTs) should be constituted and activated in every state, the home minister said. He asked the NDMA to conduct a study to assess how many states are following the ministry's directives and the NDMA guidelines for dealing with forest fires, heatwaves and floods. Shah said efforts must be made to implement the vision of zero-casualty disaster management. Emphasising that greater possibilities for water conservation and improvement in groundwater levels should be explored through water-storage and check-dam projects, he said the objective should be to conserve water by constructing check dams on rivers, while also minimising the impact of heatwaves. Shah said the CAMPA Fund should be utilised to make efforts aimed at maintaining environmental balance. He said a master plan should be prepared to address the changes in weather patterns caused by climate change and the growing disaster-related challenges arising from those. Shah said weather forecasts and warnings should be disseminated widely and effectively. Efforts should be made to further improve the assessment of the upcoming monsoon by studying casualties during the season, the accuracy of forecasts and the damage caused to the agriculture sector, he added. The meeting was attended by Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil, the Union home secretary, secretaries and senior officials of various ministries, members and heads of departments of the NDMA.

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