HYDERABAD: Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Thursday said that for the first time in 10 years, an action plan is being prepared for flood management in the state.
The minister held a review on flood action plan at the Secretariat in the presence of Special Chief Secretary, Disaster Management Arvind Kumar, Joint Secretary, Revenue (Disaster Management) S Harish, HYDRAA Commissioner AV Ranganath and others.
During the meeting, the minister said that the disaster management system is being strengthened to cope with disasters in the state and to reduce the loss of life and property.
He also directed every department related to floods to prepare action plans to deal with floods at state level and district level.
They officials have also been asked to come up with plans to reduce the threat of flood in Godavari and Krishna basins. The minister suggested that a dedicated toll free number be created for disaster management at the state level.
HYDRAA Commissioner AV Ranganath explained the steps being taken to strengthen disaster management system.
“Earlier, there used to be 30 teams. Now that number has been increased to 70. The number of personnel too has been increased from 1,800 to 3,500,” he said.
While promising to provide all support, including advanced equipment, to HYDRAA to deal with disasters, the minister asked Ranganath to send necessary proposals in this regard.