Chennai: Unwilling to take any chances, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday appointed special officers to all districts in the state except capital Chennai to oversee preparations for northeast monsoon expected anytime this month and announced a host of precautionary measures to avoid any untoward incidents.
Senior bureaucrats K. Panindher Reddy, Apurva Verma, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, J Radhakrishnan, T. Udayachandran, P Amudha and Atulya Misra have been appointed Special Officers to Ariyalur, Perambalur, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Erode, Kancheepuram and Villupuram.
“Chief Minister has instructed these officers to actively inspect measures to control dengue while preparing for the northeast monsoon. These officers will work with the district administration to ensure all precautionary measures are taken before the monsoon hits the state,” an official release from the state government said on Monday night.
Chairing a high-level meet to check preparedness of various agencies, Palaniswami said 115 Integrated Centres for Safety and Evacuation have been readied at a cost of Rs 345 crore to house people evacuated from low-lying areas during the monsoon.
“Work on the remaining six ICSE should also be completed soon so that they are also available. The authorities have been instructed to soon create Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Force with 1,000 personnel and coastal districts have been asked to set up control rooms at a cost of Rs 28 lakh,” the statement said.
The state government has also sanctioned Rs 52.40 crore to procure safety and communication equipment to be used during the monsoon, the statement said, adding an additional 1.6 tmcft of water can be stored in various water bodies as they have been desilted.
“In all, 1,137 km long storm water drains have been desilted in Chennai at a cost of Rs c10.60 crore and efforts are to build more such projects very soon,” the statement said. The Chief Minister also said October 13 would be observed as International Day for Disaster Reduction across the state.
