Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level meeting yesterday to review the preparedness to deal with the flood situation in the country. Mr. Shah also reviewed the long-term measures for formulation of a comprehensive policy to mitigate the perennial flood problems of the country.

The Union Home Minister directed the officials to strengthen coordination mechanisms between the Central and State agencies to create a system for forecasting of floods and rise in water levels in major catchment zones of the country. He also advised the Jal Shakti Ministry to work out a mechanism for desilting of large dams which will help in flood control.

The Union Home Minister also advised the India Meteorological Department, IMD and the Central Water Commission, CWC to use state-of-the-art technology and satellite data for more accurate prediction of weather and flood. Mr. Shah advised that SOPs should be prepared to broadcast IMD’s warnings to the public in the fastest manner through various broadcast mediums like Radio, TV, SMS. He said that maximum publicity should be given to various mobile apps related to weather forecasting like ‘Umang’, ‘Rain Alarm’ and ‘Damini’ developed by the IMD. Damini app provides warnings about lightning strikes in advance which can help in reducing losses to life and property. Mr. Shah has advised that studies should be conducted through satellite application on the increasing strains on river systems.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, Secretaries and Senior Officials of various Ministries, Departments of Home Affairs, Water Resources, Earth Sciences, National Disaster Management Authority, Director Generals of IMD and National Disaster Response Force, Chairman of CWC.