Awareness camp on floods

DISASTER MANAGEMENTPROGRAMME TAKEN UP IN 6 MALDA BLOCKS

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 16 FEB: To combat disasters during floods that are common in Malda district, the district administration has launched an awareness programme on disaster management in the six blocks of the district. The district administration has selected five gram panchayat area in the Ratua and Harishchandrapur blocks for the exercise in particular as those are flood prone.

According to the Chanchal SDO Mr Subho Mukherjee, a meeting on the subject has been convened at Chanchal tomorrow.

Gram panchayat members and representatives of non-government organisations would attend the meeting on flood management preparations.

“Areas under Bilaimari, Mahanandatola, Islampur, Doulatpur, Bhaluka and adjoining gram panchayats face devastating floods every year and the locals are terribly inconvenienced when the Fulohar River breaches embankments every year between the months of June and September”.

Tomorrow the participants would be trained on disaster and flood management so that they can provide shelter and relief to locals before and after floods”, said the Chanchal SDO.

Besides floods fire is another major problem in the area and so the Chanchal sub-division administration has added campaign and training on how to douse blazes as and when those occur. According to the administration officials, hundreds of huts are lost to fire in the area every year, which necessitated the training in addition to tips on flood management.

According to the Chanchal SDO, the fire incidents occur when the western breeze starts from February and continues till March. Being the dry season as well, the problem often goes out of control at Chanchal, Harishchandrapur and Ratua every year.

“Campaign against fire hazard has been taken up from the block level through gram panchayats by circulating leaflets and guidelines on the matter”, the SDO informed. (END)