HM Amit Shah chairs high level meet to review flood situation in country ahead of monsoon

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of measures to deal with monsoon and flood situation in major flood-prone areas of the country. The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai and senior officials of concerned ministries and agencies such as the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), India Meteorological Department (IMD).

READ | PM Modi's FULL Ladakh Speech: 'The World Has United Against Expansionists,' China Warned

READ | Japan Seeks To Share Defence Intelligence With India, UK, Australia Amid Tiff With China

Shah directed the officials to come up with a plan to reduce flooding and minimize the loss to property and lives. He also emphasized on better coordination between agencies to have a permanent system for forecasting of floods and rise in water levels in major catchment zones/areas of the country. He asked for action on following up on priority areas to provide permanent solutions to the perennial flood problems in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and North Eastern states.

A statement from the Home Ministry said that the Home Minister has directed the Ministry of Jal Shakti and Central Water Commission (CWC) to review and assess data on the real storage capacity of major dams with a view to ensure timely releases of water and prevention of floods.

40 million hectares flood-prone in India

According to the statement by the home ministry, a total of 40-million-hectares area in India is prone to flood in which Ganga and Brahmaputra are main flood basins and Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are most flood-prone states.

Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation made a presentation to apprise about the structural measures including management of Dams, Reservoirs, ongoing projects in Nepal, flood protection measures and non-structural measures i.e. flood plain zoning, flood forecasting and way forward to mitigate the effect of floods in Ganga and Brahmaputra Basins. Senior Officials of NDRF and IMD also made presentations.

"The decisions taken in the meeting will go a long way to mitigate the sufferings of the lakhs of people in the country who have to face the fury of floods in terms of damage to their crops, property, livelihood and precious lives," the statement by the home ministry concluded.

READ | 'China On The Defensive; PM Modi Has Come With Diplomatic Strength': Amb G Parthasarthy

READ | NEET, JEE Main 2020 Exams Postponed To September Owing To COVID-19 Crisis