Amit Shah calls for timely action for flood control in urban areas

NEW DELHI: Taking a "zero casualty approach" to mitigate and deal with the menace of floods in the country, home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness of various agencies engaged in flood management and stressed the dissemination of early warning alerts to the grassroots level, as well as timely action for flood control in urban centres.At the meeting, also attended by minister for jal shakti C R Patil, Shah directed National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to coordinate with state and district-level disaster management authorities (SDMAs and DDMAs) to ensure the wide dissemination of early warning alerts, appealing to all states and UTs for timely action on advisories issued by NDMA for effective flood management.He also suggested the maximum use of space technology by the central agencies for timely flood control and management.The review meeting was attended by top officials of departments like river development and Ganga rejuvenation; earth sciences; environment, forest and climate change; road transport and highways; Railway Board, NDMA, NDRF, NHAI, CWC and IMD.The IMD and CWC made presentations at the meeting to outline their preparations for the monsoon season this year.The home minister, while appreciating CWC and IMD's move to raise the time limit for issuance of flood forecast/advisory to 7 days from 3 days, emphasised improving the accuracy of forecasts. He advised jal shakti ministry, NDMA and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to closely monitor glacial lakes and take timely steps in the event of an outburst.New technology-based solutions should also be explored for robust flood management in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, he said.