Telangana: Chief secretary puts all district collectors, administration on high alert due to heavy rainfall forecast

HYDERABAD: With the meteorological experts giving a forecast of heavy to very heavy rains in most parts of Telangana for the next three-days, chief secretary Somesh Kumar held a teleconference with the district collectors and put all the districts’ administration on high alert.
Officials from the Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) reported a deep depression over the Northwest and bordering West Central Bay of Bengal.It was expected to strengthen into a cyclonic storm and travel roughly westward, crossing the north Andhra Pradesh-south Odisha coastlines by Sunday evening, causing heavy rains in Telangana.
The Chief Secretary, who was in Delhi for attending the conference of the chief ministers convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, conducted a teleconference with the collectors following the alert issued by the India Meteorological Department.
He directed the district collectors to set up control rooms in the respective collectorates in view of the likely impact of Gulab cyclone on the state. The IMD had issued red alert to the north Telangana districts and yellow alert to southern parts of the State.
The chief secretary said the police department must coordinate with other departments to ensure that relief measures were taken up on a war foot wherever needed. Special focus should be on low-lying areas and the tanks which were likely to suffer breaches because of heavy inflow of rain water into it.
Somesh Kumar said the services of the NDRF teams should be utilised wherever necessary and that respective district administration should maintain a high vigil to ensure that people did not cross rivulets and canals that were expected to overflow because of heavy inflows.
The district collectors were told to nominate special officers to all the mandals to ensure that there was no loss of life or property. Also, the officials should take the help of citizens in conducting relief works. All the necessary precautionary measures should be taken and constant monitoring of water levels in various tanks and reservoirs should be done, the chief secretary said.