Anantnag : Minister for Health and Medical Education, Social Welfare and Education, Sakeena Itoo along with Advisor to the Chief Minister, Nasir Aslam Wani Wednesday visited Anantnag and took first hand appraisal of the prevailing flood situation in the district.
During the visit, the Minister and Advisor visited flood gauge station Sangam and assessed the current water levels. They reviewed the latest readings recorded at the gauge station and interacted with the officials of the Irrigation & Flood Control Department.
Officers of Irrigation and Flood Control department briefed the Minister and Advisor about the prevailing discharge levels, forecast trends, and precautionary measures being undertaken to ensure timely response in case of further rise.
On the occasion, the Minister emphasized that safeguarding public health and safety remains the government’s foremost priority. She directed the concerned officers to maintain close vigil, ensure round-the-clock monitoring of river levels and remain fully prepared with emergency response plans.
The Advisor to the Chief Minister underlined the importance of coordination among line departments for effective disaster preparedness. He stressed the need for real-time information flow to both district administrations and local communities, so that any emergent situation can be handled without delay.
Later, the Minister and the Advisor also held a meeting at district headquarters Anantnag to review the prevailing flood situation in Anantnag and Shopian districts.
The meeting was attended by MLAs Altaf Ahmad Wani, Abdul Majid Larmi, Reyaz Ahmad Khan and Zaffar Ali Khatana; Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Syeed Fakhruddin Hamid; Chief Engineer, FC Kashmir, ADDC, ADC, ACR, ACD, Anantnag, Exen PHE Bijbihara, Exen Flood Control Anantnag, AEEs of various wings and other concerned officers while as ADDC Shopian and other concerned officers of the district Shopian participated in the meeting virtually.
During the meeting, the Minister directed the officers to maintain round-the-clock monitoring of water levels of all rivers and streams and ensure swift communication mechanism between field staff and control rooms. She asked the Deputy Commissioners to disseminate necessary alerts to the public through their respective control rooms on hourly basis so that people in vulnerable areas can be safely evacuated at the earliest in case of any exigency.
The Minister further stressed upon officers to ensure adequate stock of ration, availability of drinking water and other essentials items. She also called upon the health authorities to keep availability of medicines, and readiness of medical teams to deal with any possible exigency. She further asked them to deploy mobile medical teams at vulnerable areas.
During the meeting, the Minister and the also took stock of the functioning of disaster management teams. They stressed on coordinated action between civil administration, police and local volunteers to deal with any kind of exigency. They reiterated the Government’s priority to safeguard lives and appealed to the general public to remain calm yet cautious and cooperate fully with the administration by following advisories and safety guidelines.