Rain-starved Uttar Pradesh gears up for floods
LUCKNOW: As the southern part of Uttar Pradesh Bundelkhand stares at a dry emergency with dried aquifers and depleted water table, the BJP government has decided to set up flood relief camp in every tehsil of the state.
If one sees any incongruity in the timing of the decision, the answer is simple: Such is the size of the state that while one side witnesses rainfall, the other part remains parch dry.
Hence, it’s geography and not weather that decides the calendar for such perfunctory preparatory meetings for the bureaucrats.
Chief secretary Anoop Pandey held one such meeting through video conference on Friday in which instructions were issued to all the district officials to set up one model flood relief camp in each and every tehsil to deal with floods.
Officials have been directed to put ‘model relief camp’ banner outside every camp to make them stand out.
The CS said fresh and nutritious food containing 2400 calories be supplied to adults and at least 1700 calories food items for children twice in a day in the relief camps.
“Besides additional arrangements of fruits and milk should also be made on priority for lactating mothers,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state’s met department has predicted very likely rain/thunder showers at many places in east and west UP with heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places.
“Overall the state still has a rainfall deficit of around 45 per cent. But the situation may change if we get good amount of rains in the next couple of weeks,” said JP Gupta, director Met office.