Mumbai: State agencies and the Central Railway (CR) are gearing up for the monsoon this year. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday approved the State’s Disaster Management Plan for 2018 during a meeting on monsoon preparedness, while the CR will work closely with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), allowing it to set up equipment along railway tracks.
“All our officers from the headquarters to the station level, will be on the IMD’s notification list so that everyone is abreast real time of the weather predictions,” said CR General Manager, D.K. Sharma. The CR, he said, will also have one of its officers in the BMC’s control room for better coordination. For all agencies, he said, ensuring tracks do not flood in heavy rains -- as is usually the case in the city -- remains a priority, he said. CR has given the IMD verbal approval to set up equipment along railway tracks. “IMD officials asked us if they could install weather tracking equipment at our stations. We have agreed to it since IMD is a government organisation, like us.”
Mr. Sharma was among those who attended a meeting with the Chief Minister on Tuesday. Revenue, Relief & Rehabilitation, and Public Works Minister Chandrakant Patil and Minister of Finance & Planning and Forests Sudhir Mungantiwar, along with senior officials from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the State Disaster Management Authority, the IMD and State and civic organisations were at the meeting. Mr. Fadnavis emphasised coordination among agencies, dissemination of information to citizens and alerts in time.
“The CM has approved the State Disaster Management Plan 2018, the Drought Management Plan and Disaster Management Plans in this meeting,” a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
The statement said detailed presentations were given by the IMD on sector-wise predictions, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on monsoon preparedness and beach safety and the defence forces on harbour assistance and deployment. Divisional Commissioners of Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati and Aurangabad regions also presented their monsoon preparedness plans, the statement added.
NowCast service
The CR , will enlist the help of IMD’s NowCast service and will alter the number of services depending on the forecast. “We will be a little cautious on a real-time basis and will take a call on reducing services.” Mr .Sharma also said two rounds of cleaning of drains and culverts have been completed and the third round would be done by the first week of June. He said 259 Maharashtra Security Force and 220 Railway Protection Force staff were part of the quick response teams, and CR had identified 13 critical foot over bridges at key stations such as like Dadar, Parel, Currey Road, Chinchpokli, Ghatkopar and Kurla. — With PTI inputs
