Punjab Chief Secy chairs high-level meeting
Chandigarh: To take stock of the situation due to continuous heavy rains across the state and in hilly places and to speed up the relief work in the state, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma on Monday, chaired a high-level meeting with the administrative secretaries of the concerned departments and the deputy commissioners and SSPs of all the districts through video conferencing.
In the meeting, Special Chief Secretary to Chief Minister A Venu Prasad, DGP Gaurav Yadav and representatives of the Army and NDRF were also present.
Verma said that following the instructions given by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to monitor the situation in the state and deal with the possible threat of floods, the civil and police administration of the districts have been promptly deployed in the field, including the DCs, SSPs, SDMs, Tehsildars, BDPOs, Patwari besides field officers of respective departments have been involved too. He said that field officers should maintain constant contact with public representatives and common people. He said that there is no dearth of funds to deal with the current situation and Rs 33.50 crore has been released immediately from the disaster relief fund of the state.
Punjab Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has already announced that the Punjab government will help the affected people in every way in this difficult time. He said that as per the guidelines issued by the Chief Minister, the amount has been transfered in the accounts of the DCs. He said that Rs 1.50 crore has been released to Amritsar, Rs 1 crore each to Bathinda, Barnala and Faridkot, Rs 1.50 crore each to Ferozepur and Fazilka and Rs 1 crore to Fatehgarh Sahib.
Meanwhile, CM Bhagwant Mann on Monday conducted a whirlwind tour of the rain-affected areas and interacted with the people evacuated from low lying areas in the aftermath of heavy downpour of rain.
The Chief Minister, who visited the Rain Basera in Phase VI, Jamuna Apartments Kharar, Kajauli, Boothgarh and others, said that unlike his predecessors, he is not making rounds on helicopter for cosmetic assessment of the situation but he is in the field to take stock of the real condition at the ground level.
He said that the situation is alarming but still the state government is making every effort to minimise the loss of people.
Bhagwant Mann said that teams of NDRF have been roped in for rescue work but Army has not been yet pressed in officially for this work.
On this occasion, the Chief Secretary asked for the immediate release of funds for chlorine tablets. Animal husbandry department was asked to make advance arrangements to protect livestock from diseases. The Rural Development and Panchayat and local government departments, with their representatives, were asked to be ready to help the people in cities and villages.
The Chief Secretary took stock of the field situation in which the deputy commissioners of SAS Nagar, Patiala, Rupnagar and Sangrur said that the situation is serious in some places in their districts, but the administration is working promptly. Verma told all the districts that the assistance required should be brought to his notice. On this occasion, the NDRF Commandant said that 14 NDRF teams were deployed in Punjab. In Rupnagar, four teams are now deployed, on the request of the deputy commissioner. Instructions were also given to deploy another team.
In the meeting, the Chief Secretary spoke to the Commissioners of all the Municipal Corporations and reviewed the status of the corporation cities. He said that it should be ensured that necessary services are provided to the residents of the cities.
The districts of Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, and Moga where the situation is still under full control have been asked to monitor the situation by making advance arrangements as the water level in the rivers is rising due to rains in the hilly areas. Similarly, given the current situation, continuous communication is being maintained with the Army.
