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As the weather department issued a heavy rain warning for Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the Disaster Control Room at the Secretariat and took stock of the situation in the state. He said there was a need to remain alert in view of the red alert in Uttarakhand.
"Disaster preparedness should be regularly tested. Any deficiencies found should be rectified immediately. No officer's mobile should be switched off. There will be no excuse on this. Strict action should be taken against the concerned for dereliction of duty," said Pushkar Singh Dhami.
"The District Magistrate should take a decision regarding the holiday in the schools according to the situation in their districts. Please be alert," he added.
Pushkar Singh Dhami also directed that the supply of essential commodities like food grains, medicines, fuel etc. should not be disrupted as Uttarakhand.
He asked to make such a system that the information disseminated from the state headquarters reaches the village without any delay.
"All the departmental secretaries and heads of departments should regularly monitor their respective departments from the point of view of the disaster. In the event of a disaster, the buildings and places identified for the living of the affected should be re-examined from the point of view of safety. New and young officers should be appointed," Dhami said.
The IMD has sounded a red alert in Uttarakhand and its neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the capital, Delhi, on an orange alert for Wednesday.
The weather agency said heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is likely to lash over a few isolated places of Uttarakhand on Wednesday. A heavy to very heavy rainfall alert has also been predicted for Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, heavy rain is also expected to batter at isolated places over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, East Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and Kerala and Mahe.
The weather agency also predicted thunderstorms accompanied by lightning at isolated places over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on July 20.