Uttarakhand: Expert team will study the ways to deal with the situation arising out of excessive rain in Himachal, Chief Secretary gave instructions to Disaster Secretary

An expert team of Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority will go to Himachal Pradesh to see and study the situations arising due to excessive rainfall and the work being done by the administration in Himachal to deal with these situations. Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan has given instructions to Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman for this.

While reviewing the situation arising due to rain in the state at the State Emergency Operation Center located at Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan said that Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are not only neighboring states, but the geographical conditions of both the states are also similar. This year, Himachal Pradesh has suffered a lot due to rain. To deal with these situations, there is a need to know and understand how work is being done in the field of disaster management in Himachal Pradesh, how the administration is responding to these situations, so that if similar situations arise in Uttarakhand, an effective strategy can be made based on the experiences of Himachal.

Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan reached the State Emergency Operations Center and inquired about the situation arising due to the rain in the state and gave necessary guidelines to the officers of the Disaster Management Department. He reviewed the current monsoon situation in the state, the weather forecast for the coming days, the rainfall so far and the roads closed due to landslides across the state. He directed that action should be taken to open the closed roads as soon as possible. All necessary resources and equipment should be deployed in landslide prone areas. It should be ensured that JCB and all other necessary equipment reach the spot within 15 minutes. He also directed to open the rural roads promptly.

Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman said that an orange alert has been issued by the Meteorological Department in Dehradun, Nainital and Bageshwar. According to the seven-day forecast, there is a yellow alert in all the districts from Wednesday. He said that there was less than normal rainfall in June, while more than normal rainfall has been predicted in July. 108 percent more rainfall than normal has been predicted in the entire monsoon season. He informed that till now 317.1 mm of rain has occurred in the entire state. The maximum rainfall has been recorded in Bageshwar at 765.5, Chamoli at 428.2, Rudraprayag at 388.8 and Dehradun at 380.4 mm.

On this occasion, Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman, Additional Chief Executive Officer Administration Anand Swaroop, Additional Chief Executive Officer Implementation DIG Rajkumar Negi, Joint Chief Executive Officer Mohd. Obaidullah Ansari, Duty Officer Deputy Secretary Alok Kumar, USDMA experts Manish Bhagat, Rohit Kumar, Dr. Pooja Rana, Dr. Vedika Pant, Hemant Bisht and Tandrila Sarkar etc. were present.

Rehabilitation of 2853 families

Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman informed that from the year 2012 till the present date 08.07.2025, 2853 families of 258 villages affected by natural disaster were rehabilitated in the state. The total budget provision for displacement is Rs 20.00 crore. In the financial year 2025-26, against the total budget provision of Rs twenty crore for rehabilitation/displacement of disaster affected villages, till date a total amount of Rs 12,16,70,300/- has been released for rehabilitation/displacement of a total of 337 disaster affected families of 24 villages. He informed that a total amount of Rs 175.50 crore has been allocated from the State Disaster Relief Fund and State Sector. A total amount of Rs 165 crore has been allocated to the districts from the State Disaster Relief Fund.

Sachet App, 112, 1070, 1077 should be in everyone’s phone

Dehradun. Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan said that Sachet App can prove to be very helpful in preventing disasters. He said that this is an app in which not only weather and rain alerts are received but information about prevention from disasters can also be obtained. He has appealed to all the citizens of the state to download this app. He also directed Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman to widely publicize ERSS 112, 1070, 1077. He said that these three numbers should be in everyone’s phone so that in times of disaster or any difficult time, people can call on these numbers and ask for help.

Instructions to create WhatsApp group at tehsil level

Dehradun. Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan said that various types of weather related warnings and other information should be delivered to the general public in the shortest possible time, so that people can take protective measures in time. He said that whatever alerts are received from various alert issuing agencies, they should reach the people within 15 minutes through SEOC and DEOC. He said that there should be no delay in the exchange of information and warnings. He directed to create WhatsApp group at tehsil level to deliver alerts and other information to every person. He said that exchange of real time information is very important for efficient and effective disaster management. On this occasion, he also checked the functionality of wireless sets and satellite phones of various departments in SEOC.

SEOC will have its own SOP

Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan directed the State and District Emergency Operations Center to prepare their own SOP. He said that there should not be any confusion about the role and responsibility of which officer/employee in the control room. He also directed to conduct mock drill of the control room.

Unconditional assistance should be provided within 72 hours

Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan directed not to delay in distributing unconditional assistance to the disaster affected. He said that unconditional assistance should be provided to the affected within 72 hours in any case. He also directed to conduct a quick survey of the loss of property damaged in the disaster so that the affected people get help as soon as possible and they can move towards normal life again.