Telangana rains: CM Revanth puts district collectors on alert; special focus on farmers, health, traffic management

Hyderabad: Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has put all district collectors on high alert, given the forecast for heavy rains in July and August.

He passed the direction during a video conference with all district collectors.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy instructed all district collectors to be on alert and take necessary precautions to ensure that there is no trouble for farmers and people due to rain-related incidents.

District authorities must be available round the clock for these two months, he instructed.

IMD updates

Instructions given to collectors:

1) Take the updates of the rain forecast from the Indian Meteorological Department.

2) Alert the local authorities, farmers, and people in all rain-hit areas, three hours in advance in villages.

21 percent deficit in June

Telangana has recorded a 21 percent deficit in rainfall in June, and it is expected that the rains will be covered in the next two months.

Hyderabad traffic management

Heavy rains have led to waterlogging and traffic gridlocks in Hyderabad.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy instructed for better traffic management during the heavy rains. "Take up rescue operations in rain-hit habitations at a fast pace," he said.

The officials briefed CM Revanth Reddy, deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka, and other ministers that GHMC, along with 150 teams under the police, traffic departments, NDRF, SDRF, and HYDRAA, are already deployed to deal with tough situations arising in the flooded areas.

CM Revanth Reddy asked the senior officials to be available on the field to review the situation and be available to people to deal with the situation in flood-hit areas. He asked that there must be proper coordination between the Command Control Room and the departments.

In the wake of reports of deaths due to lightning strikes in some places, the CM ordered the officials to take such details to assist the bereaved families.

Seasonal diseases

CM Revanth Reddy also reviewed the preparedness of the Medical and health department to prevent the spread of seasonal fevers like Dengue, and other communicable diseases during the monsoon.

A special focus should be made on the protection of the health of people living in Tribal areas, ITDA agencies, and remote habitations. The Medical and health authorities were instructed to deploy doctors in all PHCs and government hospitals.

The veterinary department should be alert to save the livestock. The government will also release an emergency fund of Rs. 1 crore to each district. In a bid to strengthen vigilance during heavy rains, the CM instructed the Collectors to conduct surprise inspections of the PHCs and the district hospitals and field visits every morning.

The State Chief Secretary was ordered to submit a report on the activities of the Collectors to the government every day. The CM warned of strict action if the authorities ignore their responsibilities and are careless in the discharge of their duties during the emergency.

The maintenance of the Irrigation projects, Ponds and water bodies, water levels in the projects, plans to utilize the available water resources, and precautions to stop the breach of the water bodies due to heavy inflows were also discussed in the meeting. The officials briefed that water was already released under some projects in the Krishna basin, and the release from Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir.