Rajkumar Khatri, Principal Secretary, Department of Revenue, said on Monday that a battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) would be stationed at Surathkal to deal with any problems arising out of heavy rain and natural disasters during the monsoon in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.
He was chairing a meeting on disaster management programmes in the three coastal districts and drinking water management at the District Offices Complex here. Mr. Khatri said that the battalion would arrive at Surathkal at the end of May. The South Zone office of NDRF was in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. This resulted in a delay in the NDRF team reaching the rain-affected areas here. Last year, both Udupi and Dakshina Kannada had received heavy rain. Hence, the government had decided to have a battalion stationed at Surathkal before the monsoon as it would benefit both the districts, he said.
Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati told the meeting that at present there was only one sub-division in Udupi district. Since there were seven taluks in the district now, another sub-division was necessary.
So too, it had become necessary to create new hoblis. Four new taluks had been created in the district and they required basic facilities for administrative purposes, she said.
Mr. Khatri said that all efforts would be made to give basic facilities in the four newly formed taluks in the district.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Vidya Kumari and officers from Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts were present.