Greetings to all,
Accompanied by Thiru Ashish Chatterjee, I.A.S., Additional Commissioner (DMM) and Thiru Veera Raghava Rao, I.A.S., Collector, Tiruvallur, I visited Tiruvallur District on 07.09.2013 to verify the state of pre-monsoon preparedness in view of the ensuing North East Monsoon 2013. During my visit I perused the draft Disaster Management Plan of the District and pointed out the following which may be considered while preparing the District Disaster Management Plan.
a) Abstract of vulnerable villages in the district (taluk-wise) to be included in the District Disaster Management Plan.
b) A verification of the Cyclone Shelter may be done and accurate count of no. of persons could be accommodated in Cyclone Shelter should be mentioned.
c) High grounds in and around the villages to be identified for moving the animals in case of any eventuality.
d) The details of Cyclones / Floods that had struck in the past should be included in the District Disaster Management Plan.
I request all the District Collectors to convene monsoon preparedness meeting with line departments in the district and prepare the District Disaster Management Plan duly incorporating the suggestions made in the meeting and in line with the circular instructions issued vide N.C.I(4)/43138/2013, dated 6.9.2013.
During my visit, I also took up inspection of Cyclone Shelters at Vairavankuppam in Ponneri Taluk where I found that almost all the doors in the windows of the Cyclone Shelter were in damaged condition. I request all the District Collectors to take up an inspection of the Cyclone Shelters in your District and carry out the repairs to the Cyclone Shelters from the annual maintenance fund allocated by ACS/CRA for maintenance of Revenue Buildings if the buildings are maintained by Revenue Department so that the Cyclone Shelters are put to use before the onset of North East Monsoon 2013.
During the inspection of rain gauge station located at office of RDO, Ponneri, I found that the Automatic Weather Station was not functioning and that only the manual rain gauge available near by the site was being utilized. I request all the District Collectors to ensure that all the rain gauges are in working condition before the onset of North East Monsoon 2013.
The Collectors should also ensure the functioning of the VHF sets installed in the District and send a report on the above points in a fortnight.
With best wishes,
Dr. T.S. Sridhar, I.A.S.,