Bhubaneswar: As the threat from the severe cyclonic storm FANI looms large over the city, the State Administration today chalked out a massive preparedness and action plan so that the evacuation, rescue and execution would be a smooth affair.
Chairing a multi-agency coordination meeting at Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Conference Hall this afternoon Works Secretary Dr. Krishan Kumar asked all agencies concerned to work in a `Team’ so that any difficulty arising out of the natural calamity could be tackled and managed properly.
He also advised the citizens not to worry and resort to panic buying. It was learnt that the Civil Supplies Department has been asked to keep a tab on the businessmen trying to hoard essential commodities and create a crisis like situation in the name of the severe cyclonic storm, approaching Odisha.
The multi-agency coordination meeting was also addressed by Vice-Chairman Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) Balwant Singh and other senior officials from BDA, BMC, Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, Commissionerate Police, Fire Services, Works Department, Public Health Engineering Organisation, Water Resources, Energy, Housing and Urban Development Department and Revenue and Disaster Mitigation Department were present.
With the severe cyclonic storm FANI resulting in a possible heavy to very heavy rainfall along its path after its landfall near Puri, the meeting called for immediate action on the evacuation, road clearance, drainage de-silting, restoration of power supply for emergency operations and tele-communication networks and declared a toll-free number 18003450061 and landline 0674-2431253 for immediate grievance redressal.
A multi-agency control room also started functioning at BMC from the evening hours to coordinate the grievances across the corporation area. Meanwhile, the Drainage and Engineering wing of BMC has also started cleaning and de-silting the major storm water drainage channels and major drains so that during a heavy or very heavy rainfall the runoff water can easily flow to the Gangua `nullah’, the water sink of the city flowing around it, which ultimately unites with the Daya river.
Under the evacuation plan there will be two cyclone shelters in each ward where the evacuated people would be given shelter. In the cyclone shelters there would be adequate supply of medicine, food and water.
The city’s urban pockets have been divided into 13 sectors in which an OAS officer will be sector officer with an engineer (Civil) and another from drainage. The sectoral officer will have the powers to take a call on emergency situations arising out of `FANI’ and recommend appropriate actions as per the requirement at Ground zero. The affected roads would be cleared with sufficient deployment of people/workers under the supervision of a nodal officer. There will also be a drainage engineer who, in consultation with the team will decide on the positioning of the pumps and low-lying areas.
The sectors are Infocity, Xavier, Vani Vihar, Kuakhai, Khandagiri, ISKCON area, OUAT, Airport, Smart District Area, Sachivalaya Marg, Cuttack Road, Kalpana and Lingaraj under BMC.
The sectoral officers will be assisted by the respective Ward Officers, Community Organisers, Anganwadi Workers, ASHA workers and community and slum leaders in order to identify and manage low-lying and vulnerable pockets in case of severe or very severe rainfall.
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