Port Blair, Dec 7: The Lt. Governor, Lt. Gen. AK Singh (Retd.) has asked all the Departments of the Administration and other stakeholders to be prepared for any situation and prepare their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) well in advance. “While the lead agencies must take charge in any disaster like situation, each Department must know their duties and responsibilities”, he said while reviewing the status of disaster preparedness in A&N Islands in the conference hall of the Directorate of Disaster Management here today ahead of the conduct of State Level Mock Disaster Management Exercise- ‘Jeevan Raksha’.
Lauding the Disaster Management Department for its activities related to disaster preparedness in the Islands, the Lt Governor stated that the Administration is fully ready to tackle any eventuality.
The Lt. Governor also directed that lead Directorates should be nominated who should workout SoPs in consultation with Directorate of Disaster Management. He also asked the Deputy Commissioners of all the Districts to keep adequate equipments ready to deal with any situation, and further procure the required equipments.
The Lt. Governor also asked the Directorate of Health Services to be prepared for situations like epidemic & food contamination. He also asked the Civil Supplies Department to maintain the basic stock of essential commodities. Port Blair should have more stock of essential commodities, which can be sent to any Islands, in situation of need, he observed. He also asked the DGP to review the security scenario of the Islands.
The Chief Secretary, Shri Anand Prakash, DGP, Shri Rajesh Malik were also present in the review meeting.
The Principal Secretary (Rev), Raajiv Yaduvanshi apprised the Lt Governor that during the earlier session, different Departments of the Administration and Defence made PowerPoint presentations regarding disaster preparedness in Isles while the enhanced scope of disaster management was discussed threadbare. Immediate oil spill contingency plan is required to be put in place in consideration with the ICG, IOC, PMB and Pollution Control Board, the Principal Secretary added.
The Police Department, Director of Shipping Services and Indian Coast Guard made PowerPoint presentations on their Standard Operating Procedures while other Departments also submitted their SOPs for the successful conduct of the State Level Mock Disaster Management Exercise.
The Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman, the Deputy Commissioner, North & Middle Andaman, and senior officials/ representatives of Directorate of Civil Supplies, APWD, DBRAIT, Electricity, PAO, Education, DHS, PMB, RCS, Science & Tech, & Zilla Parishad attended the meeting.
At the outset the Director, Disaster Management Deptt, Shri Ashok Sharma elaborated the series of actions to be initiated during any type of disastrous situation and our preparedness to tackle these situations. He further spoke about the levels of participation, duties and roles of each line department on the basis of Incident Response System (IRS) during the conduct of State Level Mock Disaster Management Exercise- ‘Jeevan Raksha’.
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