Collector chairs meeting on preparedness for southwest monsoon in Dindigul district

Collector M.N. Poongodi chaired a meeting with senior officials from the district on the need to prepare for the southwest monsoon on Friday.

Collector M.N. Poongodi chaired a meeting with senior officials from the district on the need to prepare for the southwest monsoon on Friday.

From past experiences, officials said that at least 84 spots were “flood prone” and among them, they said that at least 24 were high risk. The Collector said that the PWD engineers should forthwith step in and get the channels and waterways free from any kind of encroachment.

Instead of waiting for the public to respond and take action, she suggested pro-active approach would be highly appreciable and also save destruction to lives and cattle. When the officials pointed out that they have taken stock of the flood prone areas and acted upon them, the Collector urged them to keep a close vigil.

Apart from establishing a control room to monitor the water level rising in the reservoirs, Ms. Poongodi said that the health department officials should work at the municipal and town panchayat/panchayats and counter post-rain related diseases effectively.

The senior officials from the revenue and rural development department said that they have a standard operating procedure for the SW monsoon, which is expected to be there till September. With Kodaikanal hill station in the district, the officials said that they have an exclusive plan for conservation of rain water and also management of the Ghat section during rainy days.

The fire and rescue service personnel and Tangedco officials said that they have planned to organise awareness campaigns across the district involving students on the need to be safe during rains as the district had lost many lives and cattle due to lightning in the past.