State to help coastal districts meet SW monsoon challenge: Principal secy

Mangaluru: The state government will extend all possible assistance to the district administration in the coastal districts of Karnataka to meet challenges that the impending South-West monsoon poses, noted Rajkumar Khatri, principal secretary, department of revenue and calamity relief. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will be posted in the coastal districts in advance, for them to coordinate with the local administration, he said.
Chairing a preparatory meeting on monsoon preparedness here on Saturday, Khatri lauded steps taken by the Dakshina Kannada district administration to meet the monsoon challenge head on. “The software that deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil has developed to help the district administration in monsoon preparedness based on experience of the last monsoon is laudatory,” Khatri said, adding the steps taken by them to ensure there is no repeat of the same is praiseworthy.
Khatri directed personnel of the fire and emergency services to get all their equipment needed to tackle the monsoon issues in readiness, and work with the same efficiency that they have done before. Respective deputy commissioners have been directed to submit reports based on the steps that engineers of National Highway (NH) division and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have taken following a meeting of theirs that was convened in Bengaluru recently.
Umesh Kumar, principal home secretary, directed engineers of NH division and NHAI to inspect landslip prone areas prior to the onset of monsoon and take steps to prevent them. With advanced technology now available to forecast disaster, Umesh directed the engineers to focus on prevention of disasters. T K Anil Kumar, regional commissioner, directed officials to focus on relief measures in flood-prone areas.
Srinivasaiah, director, meteorological department, exhorted people of coastal Karnataka to use the ‘Sidilu’ app to ascertain the lightning prone areas in the district and steer clear of such areas. The app can also be used to ascertain weather data, he said. Senthil explained the steps that the district administration has taken to meet the monsoon challenge. J Arun Chakravarthy, IGP (Western Range), B M Laxmi Prasad, SP, and other senior officials were present.