GUWAHATI, May 10 - Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today directed repairing of all vulnerable embankments on an urgent basis. He also directed formation of three units with the higher officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) for inspecting the embankments in upper and lower parts of the Brahmaputra Valley in the State along with those in the Barak Valley. He further called for establishment of control rooms and flood assessment cells for taking stock of the damages at all the divisions and subdivisions.
The Chief Minister was chairing a review meeting of the WRD at his conference room at Janata Bhawan, said an official press release here this evening.
Providing of boats to State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams at the flood-affected areas, training local youths by SDRF for enabling them to help in relief-and-rescue activities, identification of vulnerable electrical lines by the power department, coordinated steps between the WRD and the power department, among others, were some key directives issued in the meeting. The Chief Minister also directed the WRD to depute a nodal officer for timely communication with Deputy Commissioners of the districts.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised by the WRD top officials that out of the 29 embankments breached last year by floods, 28 had already been repaired. They also informed that 38 pumps had been kept ready for draining out the excess water during water-logging in Guwahati.
WRD Minister Keshab Mahanta, Media and Legal Advisers to the Chief Minister Hrishikesh Goswami and Shantanu Bharali, Chairman of the Brahmaputra Board Rajiv Jadav, top officials of the WRD and the finance, revenue and disaster management departments were also present in the meeting.
