Chief Secretary Reviews Assam's Flood Preparedness Ahead of Monsoon Season

Dr. Ravi Kota, Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam, chaired a high-level meeting today to assess the state's flood preparedness in anticipation of the forthcoming rainy season.

The meeting, held at the Chief Secretary's conference hall, saw discussions on various aspects of flood management, with inputs from district commissioners conveyed via video conference.

Principal Secretary Gyanendra Dev Tripathi briefed Dr. Kota on the state's preparedness for the upcoming flood season, emphasizing the allocation of funds and resources under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the fiscal year 2024-25.

A presentation by Civic Data Lab (CDL) on Intelligent Data Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDS-DRR) was also made, focusing on flood resilience measures. Dr. Kota suggested exploring opportunities for utilizing aggregated data to enhance disaster response capabilities alongside flood preparedness.

Some decisions were also taken regarding flood response during the flood season in the meeting like:

i. As per the Finance department notification ECF No.337800 dated 8th August 2023, power has been delegated to the DCs under Delegation of Financial Power Rules, 2022 pertaining to the issuance of Administrative Approval and sanction for undertaking petty/ minor works due to disaster in case of flood damage related works for the period of April 1 to October 31 every year.

ii. Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), informed that IMD will issue the updated forecast for the state by end of the May. IMD also informed that they have been issuing 7 days prediction and now cast for more accurate rainfall predictions.

iii. Brahmaputra Board informed that they have nine ongoing schemes in Majuli, where 97 % works have been completed. They have prepositioned geobags and porcupines in the project sites to meet any eventualities during the flood season.

iv. PWD (Roads) have requested to explore the provision of taking up repairing and restoration works of roads under multiple financial windows adding certain attributes in consultation with the Finance department as existing SDRF/NDRF norms for retraction of damaged roads is not sufficient in many a times.

v. NHIDCL will provide details of the status of ongoing works in Dima Hasao district and steps taken on the request made by NF Railway regarding ensuring safety of their rail tracks that might arise out of the works taking up by NHIDCL to the Principal Secretary, Revenue & DM and Chief Executive Officer, ASDMA within this week.

vi. Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department had requested Govt. of India to allocate 20,000 MT OMSS rice to Assam. As no any communication has been received yet, the department requested Chief Secretary to take up the issue with the GoI for expediting the matter.

vii. UNICEF informed that as discussed with the CEO ASDMA, they will assist Government of Assam in assessment of 1/3rd of the model relief camps to be set up in every revenue circle on minimum assured services. These model relief camps will be monitored by all women groups. UNICEF also agreed for developing a SoP and guidelines for the conduct of Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) for the state of Assam.

The meeting was also attended by nodal officers of the various stakeholders and senior officers of all line departments of the Government of Assam.

Also Read: In A First, Assam's Cachar Launches AI-Based App To Counter Flood Emergencies