New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a quick response to heatwave and fire incidents as he chaired a meeting to review the country’s heatwave management and monsoon preparedness.
The review comes ahead of the monsoon season, which is crucial for maintaining a bumper food grain crop and mitigating the impact of crop losses due to intense heat wave conditions.
Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) briefed the PM about the persistence of high temperatures in March-May across the country.
States and Union Territories were advised to prepare Heat Action Plans (HAPs) at the state, district and city levels as a standard response.
In order to prepare for the south-west monsoon, all states have been advised to prepare a flood preparedness plan and take appropriate measures.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was advised to make active use of social media to sensitize communities and develop deployment plans in flood-affected states.
Modi said that there is a need to take all possible measures to avoid the deaths due to heat wave and fire.
“The response time to any such incident should be minimal. In view of the rising temperature, regular hospital fire safety audits are required. We need to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests in diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance the capabilities of forest personnel and institutions to timely detect and fight fires, and accelerate subsequent recovery. It also takes work to get it. A fire incident,” he said.
Modi said that in view of the upcoming monsoon, there is a need to ensure system of monitoring the quality of drinking water so that the spread of water-borne diseases can be prevented.
The Prime Minister also held a separate meeting to review various aspects of wheat supply, stocks and exports, where he was given a detailed presentation on the issues, in particular, the impact of high temperatures in March-April on crop production.
The position of procurement and export of wheat was also reviewed. Modi directed that all steps be taken to ensure quality norms and standards so that India can develop as an assured source of food grains and other agricultural products. He also asked the officials to ensure maximum help to the farmers.