Div Com reviews preparedness; 12 lakh sand bags, 80,000 Geo bags moved to different locations
Irrigation and Flood Control department (I&FC) on Monday said it has installed nine Automatic Water Level Recorders (WLRs) on river Jhelum and at its major tributaries including. The German-based technology, Automatic Water Level Recorders are fitted with SIM cards, which will records water level data of the river on hourly basis and send it to the control room of the department. For better planning and preparedness to tackle flood like situation, the department is further expanding network of Automatic WLRs across the Valley to obtain instant data. The data as of now is being disseminated to various sections of media for real time information. This was revealed in a meeting convened by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole, here to review flood preparedness of the department in Kashmir. The meeting was informed that 12.6 lakh sand bags and 80,000 Geo bags have been kept at different locations of the river and other water bodies. The Divisional Commissioner directed the officers concerned for instant mapping of all automatic Rain Gauges which have been erected at IMD, Agriculture, SKAUST and Kashmir University. Besides, preparation of inundation maps at different water levels of river Jhelum at different locations, he directed the officers to submit the information to the Divisional Commissioner’s’ office at the earliest. He directed Executive Engineers of the department to contact their respective Deputy Commissioners for selecting the abandoned government buildings which will be used as stores at time of any eventuality.They have also been asked to prepare a list of machines procured by Mechanical Engineering wing which can be used during floods. The department have been directed to update and list all its available tools and plants and upload it on IDRM network besides prepare a list of boats available with Tourism, LAWDA, SMC, CRPF, BSF, Police, Disaster Management and private Shikara owners along with their locations. He directed the officers concerned to update the Disaster Management plans and rectify the deficiencies, if any. He said bulk SMS services should be availed for dissemination of warnings to the people on real time basis, at the time of exigency. Pole exhorted to take the status of various works taken up by the ERA under Jhelum Tawi Foold Recovery Project, including consultancy studies on flood management and hazard risk assessment. Additional Commissioner Kashmir, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Chief Engineer I&FC, M M Shahnawaz, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers and other officers were present in the meeting.
