Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

“Be ready to tackle rain-related problems”

TIRUNELVELI: Following his recent meeting with top officials of various government departments on gearing up the official machinery to meet any emergency during this monsoon, Collector M. Jayaraman held wide-ranging discussions with heads of local bodies and block development officers on Wednesday to tackle any situation like flash flood or sudden breach in a water body triggered by torrential rain.

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Jayaraman said officials attached to Department of Public Health, in association with local bodies, should make all out efforts to prevent the outbreak of contagious diseases, especially water-borne diseases, which spread normally during the monsoon. Open defecation should be avoided totally. At the same time, civic bodies should ensure the supply of adequately chlorinated drinking water to the public so that possible outbreak of water-borne diseases could be checked effectively.

To improve the ground water table in all unions, rainwater harvesting systems in government offices, private buildings and houses should be revived as monsoon was active in the district for the past several days. Moreover, bunds of irrigation tanks should be strengthened and water bodies deepened utilising the funds available under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

“Public living close to water bodies and the course of the rivers should be advised to move to safer places well in advance if there is any possibility of flash floods or unexpected breach in the buds. All schools, community halls, marriage halls across the district should be kept ready till the end of the monsoon to accommodate the affected population at any time. Local body representatives and officials should clearly understand the ways of swiftly evacuating the people in distress and taking them to the nearest safer place,” Mr. Jayaraman instructed.

He said the ‘108 ambulance service’ should be used at an optimum level in case of any emergency arising out of sudden flooding and other related natural calamity.

“As the district is situated close to Western Ghats, now experiencing good rainfall, the entire official machinery and the public should be alert to jointly deal with any situation,” the Collector appealed.

He informed that the Minister for Highways Vellakoil M.P. Saminathan would convene a meeting at the Collectorate on Thursday afternoon to review the damage caused to roads during recent rains.

District Revenue Officer P. Ramanasaraswathi, Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency R. Shankar, Revenue Divisional Officers Thamizh Selvi of Tirunelveli and Murthy of Tenkasi, BDOs and elected representatives of various local bodies participated in the meeting.

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