Govt looks to tame flood menace with new policy

Hyderabad: Looking for a permanent solution to mitigate the flood situation in the state, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday directed the revenue, irrigation and other disaster management officials to prepare a policy to come up with flood management in Telangana. He also directed the officials to prepare a flood track sheet for every river in the state.
“In the undivided state of AP, flood manuals were prepared and strategies were formulated based on the experiences and situation of the Andhra region. The then-government never bothered to prepare manuals for Telangana though the region experienced heavy rains and floods earlier too. We have to prepare these manuals based on the situation in Telangana now for a permanent solution,” the chief minister told officials at a review meeting on Monday.
He said track sheets of every river should have estimates on water flows. “A track record on what happened when the river was in spate must be kept. Based on this, prepare a future strategy,” he told the officials. KCR said all the public representatives should remain in their respective districts and constituencies and monitor the situation and relief measures, and directed agriculture officials to prepare estimates about the crop damage.
The CM said panchayat raj and municipal administration departments should obtain daily reports from the villages and urban areas on the prevailing situation. “The reports, through collectors and secretaries, must reach the chief secretary. Based on the reports, necessary action should be taken,” he said. “There should not be any loss of life due to the rains. The official machinery should understand that saving lives is the state’s priority. People should also be careful, as weather is not favourable. They should alert the officials, whenever they have a small problem or if there is a danger of floods. The officials should ensure that people do not stay in dilapidated houses,” the chief minister said. The chief minister said that tough the situation is under control, the coming three to four days are crucial. “There is a possibility of heavy rains due to the depression over north-east Madhya Pradesh, North Chhattisgarh and south-east UP,” he said, adding that special task force teams must be kept ready to combat emergencies.