NDRF in touch with all state govts to deal with floods: DG Atul Karwal

Soon after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level meeting to review the preparedness to deal with flood situations in the country, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director-General Atul Karwal said NDRF is in touch with all state governments adding that states have demanded a total of 67 teams to tackle the situation.

Speaking to ANI, Karwal said, "Union Home Minister today took a review meeting with all agencies on flood preparedness in view of the onset of monsoon. NDRF is in touch with all state governments, and they require 67 teams to battle with the situation as compared to 54 teams last year. Of the 67 teams, 14 teams have already been deployed."

Earlier in the day, Shah had directed to continuously strengthen coordination between the Central and state-level agencies to establish a permanent system for providing the lowest level prediction of flood and water level rise in the major catchment areas of the country.

The Union Minister's direction came in a high-level meeting he chaired at his office to review the overall preparedness to deal with floods in the coming monsoon.

Taking stock of flood preparedness for the coming monsoon season, Shah also reviewed the preparations made by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in the flood-affected areas under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Home Minister instructs India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Central Water Commission (CWC) to continue upgrading their technologies for more accurate weather and flood forecasting.

He also directed NDRF to prepare Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in collaboration with states for issuing rain early warnings at local, municipal and State levels in areas with heavy rainfall.

Earlier, the Minister also directed the officials to make the 'Damini' app available in all local languages. 'Damini' app gives three hours of lightning warning which can help in minimizing loss of life and property.

He further directed for timely dissemination of warnings about lightning to the public through SMS, TV, FM radio and other means.

The Home Minister took a similar meeting last year on June 15.

Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Gajendra Shekhawat, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director General of India Meteorological Department, Director General National Disaster Response Force, and DG Central Water Commission among other officials concerned participated in the meeting.

The meeting was held in Hybrid mode.

A large area in India is prone to floods in which the Ganga and the Brahmaputra are the main flood basins. Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are the most flood-prone states.

( With inputs from ANI )

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