New Delhi, June 10 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high level meeting on Tuesday to review the preparedness of flood management in the country and emphasised on maximum use of space technology by various central agencies for flood control and water management.

Shah also reviewed the long-term measures being taken to mitigate the menace of floods in the country and the steps taken on the decisions made in the meeting held last year, a Home Ministry statement said.

He discussed the new technologies adopted by all agencies for flood management and expansion of their network in the meeting.

Amit Shah said that India’s disaster management is moving forward with a ‘Zero Casualty Approach’. He directed National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to coordinate with the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) for ensuring dissemination of early warning alerts to the grassroots level and further appealed to all the States and Union Territories for timely implementation of the advisories issued by NDMA for flood management.

He asked NDMA and NDRF to work towards efficient flood management in full coordination with the states.

The Home Minister, while appreciating Central Water Commission (CWC) and India Meteorological Department (IMD) for increasing the time limit regarding issuance of flood forecasting and advisory, emphasised on increasing the accuracy level of forecasts.

Shah said that the flood monitoring centers of the CWC should be in accordance with the requirements and of international standards. He advised Jal Shakti Ministry, NDMA and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to closely monitor the glacial lakes and take timely steps in the event of any type of outburst.

He emphasised that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should work with the states to ensure uniform design changes in the state and district highways also, so that highways drainage system becomes integral part of the designs of road construction to deal with inundation of roads, in case of heavy rains. Further, NDMA should also coordinate with the state authorities for coordination between central agencies and states for flood preparedness and mitigation.

The Home Minister stressed on increasing the forest area in the Narmada river area and said that if this experiment is successful, similar efforts will be made in the areas of other rivers as well. He said that this will help in reviving the river basin, reduce soil erosion and also tackle the emerging problem of low rainfall in the region.

Shah said that new options should be explored using technology for robust flood management measures in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Referring to the increasing incidence of flooding in urban areas, Shah directed all central agencies to take necessary, timely action for flood control in these cities and prepare a comprehensive plan for flood management in big cities. He highlighted the importance of wetland rejuvenation and afforestation measures to deal with the emerging trend of heavy rainfall in short periods during monsoon.

Shah advised the Jal Shakti Ministry to work on improving the condition of wetlands in the Brahmaputra basin, which will be important for flood prevention as well as economic and tourism activities.

The Home Minister suggested that the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), IMD and other departments including NRSC should jointly organise such a conference in which experts can be invited to discuss floods, space and other aspects.

He said, "In 2014, India was far behind in the field of meteorology, but today under the leadership of PM Modi we are at par with developed countries, now we have to become No 1".

During the meeting departments including IMD, CWC made detailed presentations. The Ministries/departments concerned also informed about the action taken on the instructions given by the Union Home Minister during the flood review meeting held last year.

They also apprised the Home Minister about their preparedness for the current monsoon season and future action plan.Shah expressed satisfaction over the preparations made by all the departments.

He appealed to work in coordination with all the departments towards creating software that can deal with extreme weather with the contribution of all the departments.

Union Minister for Jal Shakti, CR Patil, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, Union Home Secretary, Secretaries of Ministries and Departments of River Developmentand Ganga Rejuvenation, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Road Transport and Highways, Chairperson Railway Board, Members and Heads of Departments of NDMA, Directors Generals of NDRF and IMD, Chairman NHAI and CWC, and senior officials from NRSC andother departments concerned were present in the meeting.

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