With the north east monsoon expected to set in later this month, the government on Thursday convened a meeting of various departments to take stock of preparedness to avoid flooding as well measures to deal with any eventuality that may occur in the wake of heavy rain.
The meeting, which was chaired by Revenue Minister M.O.H.F. Shahjahan, decided to speed up dredging of stormwater drains to avoid inundation, especially in low-lying areas.
The Local Administration Department has been directed to ensure adequate stock of equipment such as cutters to remove the timber of uprooted trees and pump sets to drain water from the low-lying areas.
The Revenue Department has been asked to identify places for opening temporary shelters and to keep enough stock of groceries. Adequate arrangements had to be made to distribute food packets among people staying in flood-hit areas too.
The Minister had directed the Health Department to convene a separate meeting to elicit support of private hospitals in providing medical relief to needy persons.
All the government hospitals, including health centres, should have adequate stock of medicines and take steps to prevent outbreak of water-borne diseases.
Mr. Shahjahan said the officials had been asked to be prepare a proper plan of action to deal with any eventuality and take steps to prevent loss of life.
