Shillong, May 10: Around Rs 20 crore has been placed with the deputy commissioner in each district to handle any kind of eventuality and render relief to persons affected by natural disasters in the district.
This was informed by Commissioner and Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management Sanjay Goyal to media persons today.
“As reviewed by the chief minister, we have observed that there are certain bottlenecks in terms of the release of the funds to the beneficiaries in the shortest possible time and that has now been taken care of in terms of powers to the deputy commissioners,” Goyal said.
“I am very happy to inform you that in the past one or two events which cyclonic damage has been done, we were in a position to transfer the money into the accounts of the beneficiaries within 24 to 48 hours, which is a great relief to the public and we have been able to take care of their immediate relief requirement in terms of repairing of their houses and other relief aspects which is as per the norms from the Government of India,” he added.
According to Goyal, the Incident Response Systems have always been activated during the current monsoon season for any kind of emergencies.
He also said that the deputy commissioners have been asked to identify the areas which do not have telephonic or mobile communications and to take help of the MPRO to ensure the channel of communication is always active.
“The normal date for setting in of the monsoon in the State is in the first week of June. We are well prepared in terms of the upcoming monsoon season,” Goyal said.
He also said that apart from the State level control room, the deputy commissioners have set up their district control room and they have been directed to activate it round the clock at least till the time the monsoon is over till the months of September and October.
Meanwhile, Goyal today chaired the meeting of the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) to review the State’s preparedness for the upcoming monsoon season.
The SLCC meeting was attended by officials from the different departments – Health, PWD, PHE, SDRF, Civil Defence, IMD, Education, besides deputy commissioners, who are in-charge of the relief operations in their respective districts.
Goyal said that the meeting discussed preparation in terms of the emergency response activities. He also informed that the district level disaster management plans have been updated by the deputy commissioners and these include resource mapping, availability of equipment, machineries, manpower, etc at various locations.
