Port Blair, October 08: The Lt Governor, Lt General (Retd) A.K. Singh, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, visited the State Control Room for Disaster Management, near Goal Ghar. He took a round of the building and inspected the facilities, the emergency response system and communication equipment for disaster readiness. Officials of the Disaster Management Department apprised him about the operation of the Control Room and the Standard Operating Procedures drawn up for emergencies or disasters. The Lt Governor issued directions to the Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Disaster Management), Smt Punya Salila Srivastava to equip the Control Room with facilities necessary for effective monitoring and timely exchange of disaster related information. He also directed that sufficient space should be available for the Control Room for effective operation. The Lt Governor, through video conference, also spoke to the Deputy Commissioner (Car Nicobar) and inquired about the disaster preparedness in Nicobar District. He also spoke with Dr. T. Srinivasan, Sr. Scientist and Dr. Shenoy, Director of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad and requested them to provide timely information on disasters for quick response. He also inspected the site where the building for Disaster Management Department is proposed to be developed.
Later, the Lt Governor visited Secretariat and took a round of the building. He inspected various sections of Secretariat building and interacted with the officers and staff. Issues such as up-gradation of a section of the Secretariat building, provision of drinking water and sanitation issues were raised by the staff. Directions were issued to Secretary (General Administration) to submit the up-gradation proposal by 16th October 2013.
