Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting on Monday with chief ministers of six states — Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. The meeting was held via video conferencing to review the conditions and preparedness of the six states in dealing with the south-west monsoon and current floods.
The Defence Minister, Health Minister, both Ministers of State in Home Affairs and senior officers of the concerned central ministries and organisations also attended the meeting. Emphasis was laid on better coordination between the Centre and states to have a permanent system for flood forecasting and extensive use of technology to improve forecasting and warning system.
PM Modi said, “Over the past few years, our forecasting agencies like India Meteorological Department and Central Water Commission have been making concerted efforts to make better and more usable flood forecasts. They are trying to provide not only rainfall and river level forecast but also location specific forecast of inundation.
There are pilot efforts underway to also use innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence to improve location-specific forecast, for which States should provide necessary information to these agencies and timely disseminate the warnings to local communities.”
The PM also mentioned that there should be an increase in investment in localised early warning systems so that timely warning can be provided to people in a particular area in case of any threats like breaches of river embankments, inundation levels, lightning, etc.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, emphasis was not only laid on states undertaking rescue efforts but also on the importance of taking precautions such as wearing face masks, hand sanitisation and maintaining adequate physical distance. PM Modi stated that relief material must also include provisions for hand washing/ sanitising and face masks for the affected people and special provisions for the elderly, pregnant women and people with co-morbidity. PM Modi added that states must build development and infrastructure projects keeping resilience in mind so that consequential losses can be prevented during local disasters.
PM Modi was updated on the flood situation and rescue efforts by chief ministers of Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Home Minister of Karnataka. The efforts of central agencies including NDRF teams were also complimented as they helped immensely in the timely deployment and rescue of people. Suggestions for short-term and long-term measures for mitigating the effects of floods were also given in the virtual meeting.
The officers of concerned ministries and organisations were ordered to take action on the suggestions given by the respective chief ministers. PM Modi assured that the Centre will continue to support the states and union territories and hence strengthen their capabilities in dealing with various disasters.