Fitness of school and hospital buildings in the district will be reviewed by a committee of the Public Works Department (PWD) soon in view of the monsoon season. The committee, set up on a directive by the District Collector, will mainly examine whether the buildings have got No Objection Certificates (NOC) from the Fire and Rescue Services Department.

Revenue Department officials said schools and hospitals that do not possess a valid NOC would have to shut shop. The directive would also be applicable to all other private and commercial buildings, they said.

Though school and hospital managements had already conducted a round of safety inspections on the basis of an earlier directive by Revenue and Fire Services departments, PWD would conduct inspections again. PWD officials said an engineers’ team would be constituted soon for the purpose.

Disaster management

As part of the latest disaster management plan, local bodies have to form an independent committee comprising the local body secretary, village officer and the range officer concerned to supervise disaster mitigation activities in their jurisdiction. The committee will also be responsible for the flawless implementation of all directives issued by the Collector.

The District Collector had recently said that violation of safety guidelines mentioned in the Disaster Management Act would be dealt with seriously. He had also asked heads of various government departments to ensure that no trees or their branches were posing a threat to life.

Helplines

In the wake of the Collector’s directive and the red alert issued for June 11, the taluk-level disaster management preparedness was also reviewed by Revenue Department authorities on Friday. Officials said district-level and taluk-level helplines would be made available 24x7 by Saturday to request support in case of any emergency situation.