Himachal: Speaker reviews disaster management preparations for winter
Himachal Pradesh: A review meeting was held in Chamba on disaster management preparedness for the winter season. The meeting, chaired by Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, was attended by various administrative and departmental officers of the district. The meeting included review of preparedness for potential disasters during the winter season and assessing measures to prevent risks associated with such events. During the meeting, the Speaker directed the Chief Medical Officer of Chamba to ensure availability of essential medicines and medical facilities in all health centres of the district during the winter season. The Education Department was directed to expedite the process of declaring school buildings unsafe and ensure regular review of such cases by the concerned SDM.
The Superintendent Engineer of Jal Shakti Department was entrusted with the task of preparing an alternative water supply scheme for areas affected by low rainfall this year and to prepare a detailed project report for groundwater recharge and water conservation. To address communication challenges during emergencies, telecom representatives were directed to maintain 2-3 days of power backup for mobile towers to ensure uninterrupted services in case of grid failure. Similarly, instructions were given to maintain additional power backup to ensure uninterrupted operation of health and emergency service facilities in times of crisis. The Assembly Speaker directed all SDMs to hold subdivision level review meetings with their respective teams to assess and enhance disaster management preparedness before winter. Also, the fire department was directed to conduct fire audit of sensitive buildings and ensure availability of necessary fire fighting equipment at such sites.
The preparations and responsibilities related to Public Works, Electricity, Transport, Agriculture, Horticulture, Police and Information and Public Relations departments were also discussed in the meeting. Apart from this, the Assembly Speaker reviewed the performance of the district with respect to the Good Governance Index. Detailed discussions were held with departmental representatives on many important points, in which important guidelines were given to ensure better performance. Before the meeting, Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Repaswal formally welcomed the Assembly Speaker and gave a brief description of the purpose and importance of the meeting. He thanked the Assembly Speaker for devoting his valuable time for the review session. Local MLA Neeraj Nayyar, Chamba Municipal Council chairperson Neelam Nayyar, ADM Amit Mehra, Additional Superintendent of Police Shivani Mahela, SDMs Priyanshu Khati (Chamba), Anil Bhardwaj (Dalhousie), Paras Aggarwal (Bhatiyat), Naveen Kumar (Saluni), Ankur Thakur (Tisa), AC to DC PP Singh and senior officers of Public Works, Jal Shakti, Education and Power departments were present in the meeting.
