Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said Indian government will make disaster prevention and management an integral part of plans when it builds infrastructure.
Speaking at a conference on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief organized at the College of Defence Management here on Friday, Mr. Rijiju emphasised the importance of coordination between the State and Centre, and the armed forces as well as dedicated agencies for disaster like the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
“Our outlook has changed. We now work to mitigate disaster risk. Our disaster response time has also improved. The Prime Minister has said disaster planning is being made part of our development activity,” Mr. Rijiju said.
The seminar was held as part of two-day exercise dubbed “Pralay Sahayam”, including a live drill.
Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, who was also present at the talk, said unlike other parts of India, the State’s biggest natural calamity is drought.
“In 2015-16, seven of 10 districts were drought hit. The government has initiated several programmes including Mission Kakatiya, to improve water and irrigation,” he said.
The seminar was opened by Lieutenant General P.M. Hariz, GOC-in-C Southern Command. It was followed by two plenary sessions where experts discussed various issues, including climate change and its impact on weather events that can lead to disasters.
Table top
The second plenary session discussed urban flooding and disaster management. Special Chief Secretary B.R. Meena and GHMC Commissioner Janardhan Reddy, who discussed Telangana’s disaster management plans.
Following the seminar, a simulation exercise was carried out to gauge response and coordination between various relief and rescue agencies. During the table-top exercise, participants representing various agencies, were told that Hyderabad is flooding due to incessant rain. Various situations, including building collapses, trapped citizens, flooded neighbourhoods, were considered to elicit responses from national, state, GHMC and army representatives who participated in the exercise.