PM REVIEWS PREP TO DEAL WITH HEATWAVE, MONSOON SEASON

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised states and Union territories to prepare action plans at each administrative level — state, city, district — to deal with the persisting high temperatures across the country, said a release from the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday.

Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) briefed the PM at a meeting about the March-may temperatures across the country and preparations for the monsoon, said the statement.

“In view of the rising temperatures, regular hospital fire safety audits need to be done. PM spoke about the need to work to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance the capabilities of forest personnel and institutions for timely detection of a possible fire and for fighting fires, and to speed up recovery after a fire event,” read the statement.

To be prepared for the monsoon, which usually begins June 1, all states have been advised to prepare flood preparedness plans and undertake appropriate measures. The National Disaster Response Force has been advised to develop a deployment plan in flood-affected states, the statement said.

Among those at the meeting were the PM’S principal secretary and advisers, the cabinet secretary as well as secretaries of the ministries of home, health and jal shakti and the chiefs of the IMD, NDMA and NDRF.