Chief Secretary takes stock of arrangements and relief works to deal with situation caused by excessive rain

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma on Tuesday held a high level meeting for the second day in a row to keep a constant watch on the situation caused due to heavy rains across the state and in Himachal Pradesh for the past few days and to conduct the relief operations effectively at the lower level. In the meeting, a report on the current situation was taken from the Administrative Secretaries of the concerned departments and the Deputy Commissioners and SSPs of all the districts.

The meeting also reviewed the relief work being done by the administration on the instructions given by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to provide all kinds of help to the residents of the state in the affected places.

Notably, Cabinet Ministers, MLAs and public representatives posted in the field are engaged to provide relief to the people by coordinating with the administration. Special Chief Secretary to Chief Minister A Venu Prasad, DGP Gaurav Yadav and representatives of the Army and NDRF were also present at the meeting.

The Chief Secretary directed the respective district administrations that wherever people are struck due to low-lying areas or water logging, they should be evacuated safely and alternative arrangements for food, drink and accommodation should be made on war footing.

Steps should be undertaken to provide information to the people about the arrangements being made for them so that they can take advantage of the facility as protecting people’s lives is the top priority of the State Government.

Mr. Anurag Verma further said that people should be made aware by immediately identifying unsafe buildings so that any untoward incident can be avoided. He also enquired about the necessary assistance from the DCs and said that NDRF will be provided to the districts as per requirement.

At present five NDRF teams are deployed in Rupnagar district, three in SAS Nagar, two in Patiala and one each in Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. Kapurthala, Tarn Tarn wanted one NDRF team in their districts. Similarly, the boats, life jackets, water extraction machines and food packets were directed to be provided to the people in the water-affected areas.

The Chief Secretary asked the Health Department to make advance arrangements for the prevention of water-borne diseases and said that there should be no shortage of medicines. He directed the water supply department to provide adequate drinking water to the people.

The Animal Husbandry Department was instructed to activate the field staff for combating the diseases affecting the animals. The Local Government Department was asked to arrange fogging and spraying. The Rural Development and Panchayat Department informed that all the staff is being continuously deployed in the villages to help the people. PSPCL Chairman briefed that wherever the power supply has been affected, it would be repaired and restored immediately.

Earlier, the presentation given by the Water Resources Department said that the water level in Bhakra Dam is 1624.14 feet while the capacity is 1680 feet. The water level in Pong Dam is 1360.04 feet while the capacity is 1390 feet and the water level in Ranjit Sagar Dam is 1712.64 feet while the capacity is 1731.99 feet. The current status of the water level in the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Ghaggar rivers was also briefed. It was also told that the two breaches found in the Dhusi Bunn on the Sutlej River have been plugged.

In the meeting, the officials of the Meteorological Department informed that there will be light to moderate rain at scattered places in Punjab for the next 48 hours, while there will be light to moderate rain at some places for 48 to 72 hours. Some districts of Himachal Pradesh are likely to receive moderate to heavy rains in the next 24 hours.

The Chief Secretary further said that arrangements should be made given the possibility of overflowing rivers and canals in the affected districts as the water will increase in the coming days and the safety of life and property should be ensured by evacuating the people from the low-lying areas.

Prominent among others who were present in the meeting included Special Chief Secretary Revenue KAP Sinha, Additional Chief Secretary Rural Development and Panchayat K Siva Prashad, Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Jaspreet Talwar, Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare VP Singh, Principal Secretary Water Resources Krishan Kumar, Secretary Local Government Ajoy Sharma, Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla, Western Command Representative Adviser Military Army Affairs Colonel JS Sandhu and NDRF Commandant Santosh Kumar, PSPCL CMD Baldev Singh Sran, Director Rural Development and Panchayat Gurpreet Singh Khaira and Director Animal Husbandry Dr. Ram Pal Mittal.