Thiruvananthapuram: Three task forces set up to tackle heat, drought

Thiruvananthapuram: In the wake of rising heat-related adverse health events and drought situation in the state, the state government has constituted three task forces headed by top officials to coordinate the efforts in every district for effective handling of the situation. According to statistics, around 284 heat-related incidents have occurred in the state till day and majority of the cases were reported in Pathanamthitta.

As per the direction from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, chief secretary Tom Jose chaired a meeting with all district collectors through video conferencing to review the situations in the respective districts.

Mr Jose directed all district collectors to take immediate step to launch control rooms. He said that currently, 122 local bodies in the state are providing drinking water to water-scarce areas in tanker lorries.

He has directed the district collectors to take action against violators wasting water.

The Water Resources Department additional chief secretary will head the task force which will be coordinating the efforts to manage drought, water scarcity and district control rooms in the state. The other task forces would be headed by the principal secretary of Revenue and Disaster management department and principal secretary of Kerala Forest Department respectively.

The health department additional chief secretary will coordinate efforts to prevent communicable diseases in the state. The district collectors would be in charge of each district.