The State police have deployed teams of the Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Force (TNDRF) in flood-prone districts as part of the contingency plan to counter the heavy rainfall predicted this monsoon.
Director-General of Police J.K. Tripathy said a special control room had been set up on the Tamil Nadu Commando School campus in Chennai to monitor the storage levels of reservoirs and tanks round-the-clock.
Besides stationing TNDRF personnel at vantage points, a team comprising commandos and fire service personnel was stationed at the special control room. Police were equipped with earth movers, electric saw, inflatable boats, life jackets and other disaster relief/rescue material.
Mr. Tripathy said there was “absolute coordination” with other agencies like the Public Works Department, the Fire and Rescue Services Department, the Fisheries Department and others in the planning and preparedness module.
Lessons learnt from past incidents (of floods in Tamil Nadu) had been incorporated into the Standard Operating Procedure. A TNDRF contingent had already been stationed at Ooty, where heavy rain was being reported, he said.
An alert was issued to coastal and flood-prone districts to mobilise adequate manpower and machinery to handle exigencies in the event of a flood situation. Police were working closely with the Government Railway Police/Railway Protection Force to keep track of train operations. The Coastal Security Group of the State police had been told to intensify patrolling in low-lying areas.
Additional Director-General of Police (Operations) Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal said at least 7,000 people, including 6,000 police personnel, had been trained in disaster response and relief operations by TNDRF in the recent past.
"These rescuers are being deployed at vulnerable locations. The deployment has been planned such that our teams will be able to reach a scene of exigency within minutes of [receipt of] information. We have trained about 1,000 Home Guards and civilians," he said.
