The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has put its engineering, emergency and disaster management units on alert following a warning on the possibilities of cyclone ‘Phailin’ having an impact on the city.
As the weekend coincides with festival season, the GHMC has also cancelled the leaves of officials related to emergency tasks, and asked them to be available at the municipal corporation’s headquarters to meet any contingencies that may arise during the cyclone. This was disclosed by GHMC Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu on Friday.
In tandem with other departments such as the police and fire services, the required manpower and equipment were being kept in a state of preparedness. Eighteen high-capacity vehicles of the Fire Services Department would be moved into vulnerable areas in advance as per requirement, he said.
“Other departments were also brought into our Alert Mechanism to receive messages,” Mr. Krishna Babu.
GHMC has equipped 18 police stations in the Hyderabad Commissionerate and 12 police stations in Cyberabad with power-saws, dragon lights, wire-cutters and other emergency equipment required during disasters.
“We also formed 67 emergency teams comprising 840 workers, equipped with pumps for de-watering, tree-cutters, nylon ropes, trucks, torchlight, JCBs and other required vehicles,” he said.
The Town Planning wing had been asked to keep an eye on old and dilapidated structures that could not be demolished during the recent drive. Though water at the Hussainsagar was touching the full tank level, it would not pose any problem except if there is excess rainfall within a short time.
“The lake’s surplus channel has been de-silted and shrubbery and other such impediments removed for free flow of water,” Mr. Krishna Babu said.
