Belagavi officials told to ensure no loss of life due to rain or floods
District in-charge Secretary visits flood-hit villages and towns, holds meeting with officials to review calamity relief, flood management
District in-charge Secretary Vipul Bansal during a visit to a care centre in Gokak of Belagavi district on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: P.K. Badiger
District in-charge Secretary Vipul Bansal visited flood-hit villages and towns in Belagavi district on Wednesday. He also held a meeting with officials to review calamity relief and flood management.
Mr. Bansal asked officers to take all steps to ensure that there are no casualties or death of cattle or small animals due to rain or flooding.
He visited Lolasur bridge and spoke to Public Works engineers. He met inmates at the care centre opened in Gokak.
He told reporters that there is no immediate threat of a flood in Belagavi as rainfall has reduced and excess water in the Hidkal dam is being released into the river.
He said that he will obtain a report on the condition of bridges and alternative routes for the regions that they connect and forward it to the State government.
The State government will take a decision after consulting experts on finding a permanent solution for the submergence of bridges or the problems faced in low-lying areas. This issue has been discussed with the Public Works Minister and the Revenue Minister and they have given a positive response to some proposals, he said.
Mr. Bansal later held a meeting with officers of all departments concerned in Belagavi.
“There is a chance of increased rainfall in August. We should make sure that there is no loss of life of people or cattle due to negligence of officials at any stage, including reservoir maintenance or rescue operations. Officers of every department should act with utmost caution,” he said.
Mr. Bansal said that no officer should go on leave but continue to work in the places of their posting.
He directed all tahsildars to visit the care centres under their jurisdiction regularly and ensure that they have all facilities, food, medicine and other necessary material.
“There is a possibility of increased rainfall in August. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, provision of essential food, medicine and water and other material should be made in all the care centres. Stocks of fodder should be maintained in cattle relief camps,” the secretary said.
He asked all sub-divisional officers and tahsildars to learn from the management practices of 2019 and take appropriate steps. He pointed out that there is already enough money in the tahsildars accounts for disaster management.
He asked them to bring to the notice of senior officers, in case of problems.
He asked irrigation and other department officers to work in coordination with each other, with regard to release of water from the reservoirs.
As the rivers start flowing beyond the danger level, all steps should be taken to save the lives of the people. He asked officers to conduct scientific and transparent surveys of agriculture and horticulture crop loss.
Similarly, a survey of damage to roads should be conducted, he said.
Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan said that as a precautionary measure, water storage in the Lal Bahadur Shastri Reservoir over the Krishna in Almatti was reduced to 67 tmcft from 97 tmcft through daily discharge.
He said that the flood situation is being managed by maintaining low water levels in reservoirs. He said that officers of departments concerned in Karnataka and Maharashtra are coordinating successfully.
He said that all preparations are being made for the rescue and evacuation of people of all the river basin villages, including the Krishna, the Ghataprabha and the Malaprabha.
He said that tahsildars have been directed to release compensation to the families concerned within 24 hours in case of loss of life of people or cattle.
As many as 427 care centers have been kept ready across the district. Of them, 46 have already started functioning. As many as 10,304 people from 3,684 families affected by heavy rain will be provided shelter in these centres.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Rahul Shinde said the Health Department is ready to provide ambulance and medical assistance to any place in the district except for a few residential areas in hilly and forest areas.
Superintendent of Police Bhima Shankar Guled said that access to places like Gokak Falls has been restricted to ensure safety and security. Barricades have been installed on submerged low-level bridges to prevent people and vehicular traffic from getting into danger.
However, some of them have been opened after inspection by Public Works officers when the water level subsided.
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